The Fee Increase, Documented
Every fact on this page comes from Oppenheimer’s own records.
The authorization
“You are authorized to update the fee on the above referenced OMEGA accounts from 1.25% to 1.95%.”
The letter raising my father’s advisory fee from 1.25% to 1.95%, a 56% increase, is one sentence long: “You are authorized to update the fee on the above referenced OMEGA accounts from 1.25% to 1.95%.” It carries a typed date of January 5, 2021. My father wrote the date 1-12-2021 when he signed it. Oppenheimer’s signature-verification stamp reads 1-20-21. The letter states no effective date. Ex. 13 (OPCO_11442)
| Date (2021) | What happened |
|---|---|
| Jan. 1 | Billing period begins |
| Jan. 5 | Typed date |
| Jan. 12 | Signed |
| Jan. 22 | Re-charged at 1.95% |
The billing
In April 2024, Oppenheimer’s complaint department wrote that first-quarter 2021 fees were charged on January 13, 2021 at the old rate, credited back, and re-charged on January 22, 2021 at the new rate for the full quarter beginning January 1, 2021. That billing period began eleven days before my father signed. The Patrick Wade email, 4/18/24 (Ex. 2)
The retroactive amount was $2,589.37.
What Oppenheimer told the arbitrator
Oppenheimer’s written answers placed the fee increase in “mid-2022.” Answer, 12/18/24 Amended Answer At the hearing, its counsel placed it in January 2021. 5/7/25 Tr. 198:1-2 Its counsel also told the arbitrator the case came down to one document: the January 2021 letter. 5/7/25 Tr. 202:22–203:1
What happened next
Oppenheimer closed the complaint. 4/19/24 The FINRA award denied every claim and does not mention the pre-signature billing. Award The federal court could not review the merits. Dkt. 43
In our view, these documents show a fiduciary billing an elderly client a higher fee for a period before he authorized it, at a time his own doctor documented significant cognitive decline.