An investor with a history of depression filed a claim with the SEC against an investment fund, seeking to negate transactions during the period of his treatment. The investor claimed that he had been incompetent to invest and had been unduly influenced by his broker. The Forensic Panel, consulted by the defense, reviewed complex transaction documents, treatment and medical history, and correspondence in order to derive evidence of frame of mind of the examinee and the dynamics of the relationship in question.
While the lawsuit was bolstered by the claimant’s ongoing treatment with antidepressants and periods of underemployment, and the relationship with the broker a positive one, the evidence did not support a dynamic of influence over disengaged decision-making. Our forensic psychiatrist’s inquiry included a report and testimony produced before a panel of judges who ruled in favor of the defendant.
