Baseball Star Justin Verlander’s Former Advisor Barred From Industry

By all accounts, Justin Verlander has led a storied life as a professional athlete, earning $28 million this year as a pitcher for the World Series champion Houston Astros.

The Virginia native set the salary record for pitchers when he signed a $202 million extension contract with the Detroit Tigers in 2013, for whom he was considered an ace in four consecutive American League Central Division championships. He married his sweetheart, actress and model Kate Upton, in Tuscany, Italy, this past November.

But despite all the good fortune, Verlander was as vulnerable as the rest of us when he put his trust in Kenneth Tyrrell, a former financial advisor who consented to an industry bar by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority last week.

Tyrrell, a 23-year industry veteran and former UBS Financial Services broker whose clients included Verlander, accepted the industry bar after failing to disclose more than a dozen private securities transactions and outside business activities with Verlander.

Tyrrell, discharged by UBS in August 2016, participated in 11 private securities transactions and four outside business activities without informing the firm, according to a letter of settlement issued by Finra.

Tyrrell transferred about $498,000 from Verlander’s UBS accounts to pay for goods and services coordinated by the concierge services company that the broker’s wife launched in 2013, according to the Finra consent letter.

After Verlander questioned the transaction in June 2016, Tyrrell returned about $130,000, the consent letter said.

The Vienna, Va.-based broker’s failure to disclose the investments and businesses violated UBS policies and regulatory rules, the consent letter said.

Tyrrell’s attorney, Jeffrey F. Robertson of Schulte Roth & Zabel in Washington, D.C., declined to comment. Verlander’s sports agency did not respond to a request for comment.

What is clear, however, is that the star pitcher’s losses could have been significantly worse given Tyrrell’s involvement in Verlander’s businesses, trusts, a personal charity and his investment portfolio.