Jones, Schiller & Littman

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The nature of my review is personal and does not involve my company. I was a personal client referred by my lawyer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Jones, Schiller & Littman?

Forensic Accounting

What were your goals for this engagement?

• To get a report of my husband's IRAs and/or 401ks
• To get a summary of my husband's Registered Investment Advisory Firm's Total Assets Under Management
• To find out where an additional almost $300,000 was deposited after my husband refinanced our home
• To get copies of our jointly filed taxes to track down real estate investments in Sun Valley, ID and in Northern California

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

My divorce lawyer recommended Rick, as do many other divorce lawyers in Marin County.

Describe the engagement in detail.

I provided the firm with a deposit of $10,000. I also provided them with 11 boxes of records pertaining to my the data I was after, with the exception of my husband's company, for which I only had a few emails, as I did not have the exact number for Assets Under Management., but knew it was at least $74M.

I was told by my wealth advisor that the information is easy to get via a report Schwab runs.

Rick stated he was very familiar with RIAs and could get at this data. He portrayed himself as financially savvy when it came to working with RIAs in particular, yet he never produced this report, despite attending the deposition where my husband was supposed to be asked about this data so we could secure the report despite his refusal to give it to us.

There was other data I also needed from Rick and Josh. I wanted info on my children's whole life insurance policies and access to joint tax returns. Rick never helped with this, and yet this is what he was hired to do. It was extremely frustrating. I also found out Rick called my husband and his lawyer without telling me.

Describe their billing or cost structure.

The billing was sporadic and came for obvious billing hours, however, most of my bills were not received by me until a few days before my trial, where I was relying on Rick and his son, Josh, to provide the requested information.

Two weeks before my trial Josh told me that they didn't believe my claims regarding missing IRA money, the loan money, and they never requested the needed documentation in a deposition to confirm the AUM at the RIA, which was the primary reason he was hired.

He said a firm with at least $74M has no real value and I was not privy to any of it, despite jointly putting up half the money to start the firm. I was told by my second lawyer that the deposition was poorly handled, of which Rick and Josh were present to get at missing information.

They failed to secure my tax returns filed jointly for needed financial information, they only returned 5 of the 11 boxes to me after I fired them, despite multiple requests, and I lost a great deal of money due to their unwillingness to do the work they agreed to do up front.

Consequently, I did not pay my full bill, however, I was forced to pay over half of it because they withheld all information until right before my Bench Bar Settlement, forcing me to pay them for what little information they provided, though none of it ended up helping me.

In fact, it hurt me because I had to hire another forensic accountant and sadly, he couldn't get the reports to confirm the AUM because Rick and Josh hadn't asked the right questions at the deposition to allow this to be pursued. These results were a huge let down after Rick portrayed himself to be an expert with RIAs and familiar with how to get at the data they would need to determine the AUM.

What was the team composition?

Rick and Josh

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the engagement that demonstrate progress or success?

There was no success and the progress Josh did review with me was accurate, however, most of the information he shared I knew.

Despite my showing them proof of an IRA with Tucker Anthony Bank being cashed by my husband and monies deposited solely into my husband's checking account for a tuition refund from one of my children's schools, Josh and Rick failed to get me my half of this money in the Bench Bar Settlement.

They also failed to bring up my sons' Whole Life Insurance policies, of which I gave them information.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It was ineffective and according to the divorce lawyer I hired after the divorce lawyer that hired Rick, their work was poor and the deposition did not get at obvious information that would have helped my case.

They also agreed to a Bench Bar Settlement date without telling me until 2 months before the date and wanted me to agree to settle despite their shoddy work.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Nothing. When I tried contacting a partner of the firm or someone who would take my complaint and help me resolve it, my calls were ignored. I never got my paperwork back and they ignored all of my requests for assistance.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is not. I would avoid Rick and his son at all costs. I have spoken to several other friends who are divorced and three of my friends whose lawyers also used Rick had the same experience as I did. One was a male and the other two were female.

All four of us were in a weaker financial position than our partners and all of us felt let down in our dealings with Rick and his son.