Man ruined by Madoff sues adviser

A Seattle man has filed suit against his financial adviser for failing to conduct appropriate due diligence and for investing his money with Tremont Group Holdings Inc. of Rye, N.Y., that placed funds with convicted swindler Bernard Madoff.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court by the firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP on behalf of investor John Dennis, claims that FutureSelect Prime Advisor II LLC and its managing partner Ron Ward, of Redmond, Wash., merely forwarded his funds to Tremont Group, a holding company, which in turn placed funds with Mr. Madoff.

“The law says that before an investment company puts client money in a fund, there is an ironclad responsibility to investigate the worthiness of an investment,” Steve Berman, managing partner of Seattle-based Hagens Berman, said in a statement. “It appears that in Ron Ward’s case, the due diligence was limited to FutureSelect looking up the mailing address to forward Mr. Dennis’ investment to Madoff through Tremont.”

The suit claims that if the firm had done its due diligence, it would have discovered the Ponzi scheme.