Opinion ID: 169956
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: M errill Scott and Estate Planning Institute

Text: From August 15, 2001, to O ctober 15, 2001, M r. Hipple served on M errill Scott’s board of directors and as its President and Chief Executive Officer. At the time, M errill Scott was on the brink of insolvency. Although it marketed itself as a global financial services provider for wealthy individuals, the Securities and Exchange Commission later charged that M errill Scott was actually part of an elaborate ponzi scheme orchestrated by its founder and owner, Patrick M . Brody. One aspect of M errill Scott’s business w as legitimate and profitable, however. It encompassed a group of individuals who provided fee-based tax and financial planning services through a related entity called Estate Planning Institute (“EPI”). The district court described EPI as a captive law firm of M errill Scott, a characterization with which M r. Hipple disagrees. Although he admitted at his deposition that when he arrived at M errill Scott, there was virtually no financial separation between it and EPI, he went on to testify that one of his first tasks as m anaging director w as to separate and formalize the relationship between the tw o entities. Under his direction, in September 2001, EPI and M errill Scott entered into an agreement under which M errill Scott agreed to provide marketing and administrative services to EPI, which in turn agreed to provide the actual financial planning services to clients. Under this new arrangement all clients that -4- were formerly considered clients of M errill Scott became clients of, and signed retainer and other agreements with, EPI.