Jonathan J. Brennan

Jon is a Shareholder in Maynard’s Securities Litigation Practice Group. A dynamic litigator and wealth management lawyer with over 20 years of experience, Jon has extensive experience in wealth management and securities litigation, as well as complex commercial litigation. He focuses his practice on matters of importance to retail broker-dealers with an emphasis on FINRA arbitrations, civil litigation, and pre-litigation dispute resolution. Jon also has experience handling or managing fiduciary and private banking litigation, capital markets matters, and ERISA class actions.

He has represented individuals and businesses in regulatory investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and Internal Revenue Service.

Prior to joining Maynard, Jon was a Managing Director and Associate General Counsel at Bank of America where he was head of Wealth Management Litigation. Jon began his legal career at Sidley Austin LLP in New York, and he also founded and ran a boutique litigation firm.

Community & Professional

• American Bar Association
• Hispanic National Bar Association
• New York City Bar Association
• Arbitration Committee, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (2016 – 2018)
• Litigation Advisory Committee, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (2014 –2018)

• Supervised thousands of customer arbitrations involving claims of suitability, overconcentration, churning, unauthorized trading, fraud, misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty.
• Led a team representing a leading online-only brokerage firm and its affiliates in a wide variety of arbitrations, customer complaints, and third-party matters. Since 2019, Maynard has represented this client in 26 arbitrations that have gone to a FINRA award with 24 of those cases resulting in $0 awards.
• Led six-person trial team in a 5-week Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration conducted entirely by Zoom. The case, in which Claimant sought $80 million in damages, involved claims of unauthorized trading of structured products as well as allegations of forgery, fraud, and elder abuse.
• Managed credit crisis litigation involving sale of auction rate securities (ARS), collateralized debt obligations, and asset-backed commercial paper to retail and middle-market clients; cases included class actions, individual civil litigations, and FINRA arbitrations. Supervised counsel in the briefing and argument of a multi-district class action which led to a full victory before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
• Supervised client litigation in probate, state, and federal courts involving the exercise of a national bank’s fiduciary powers. Diverse portfolio of cases included mismanagement of estate assets, lost trust records, lender liability, and third-party fraud.
• Supervised, negotiated, and settled a$1.75 billion litigation claim arising from the criminal embezzlement and fraud scheme of a Florida-based mortgage originator.
• Represented global broker-dealer in a two-week federal jury trial involving claims alleging improper margin call and liquidation of a portfolio of mortgage-backed securities.
• Supervised defense of putative ERISA and antitrust class action alleging a broker-dealer’s institutional retirement business improperly limited a plan’s investment options and engaged in improper revenue sharing. Client prevailed on a motion to dismiss.
• Manage garnishment, levies, attachments and other third-party process on a nationwide basis for large, online-only broker-dealer.
• Supervised team responsible for processing all subpoenas, garnishments, and levies directed to Bank of America’s wealth management businesses.
• Produced documents, prepared witnesses, and defended current and former employees in regulatory interviews and testimony before the Securities and Exchange Commission, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, and Internal Revenue Service.