Beverley Schottenstein

Beverley Schottenstein said two grandsons who managed her money at JPMorgan forged documents, ran up commissions with inappropriate trading and made her miss tens of millions of dollars in gains. So she decided to teach them all a lesson. Beverley’s late husband, Alvin Schottenstein, helped turn a family furniture chain in the Midwest into what’s now a multibillion-dollar empire that has included Value City, Big Lots Inc., Designer Brands Inc. and American Eagle Outfitters Inc. Beverley’s part of the family cashed out of the business long ago. Evan and Avi became financial advisers and offered her their services at JPMorgan Chase & Co. They oversaw more than $80 million for her, and had run up big commissions putting her money in risky investments they weren’t telling her about. It was the latest red flag about the bankers. There had been missing account statements. Document shredding. Unexplained credit-card charges. Evan Schottenstein, 39, was his grandmother’s primary broker, which means he drew commissions investing her money. Evan said in filings that he acted in her interest. Avi, 33, was also a financial adviser. He told Finra he provided administrative support to his older brother and wasn’t involved in any alleged misconduct. With the help of her lawyers, Beverley dragged her grandsons and JPMorgan in front of arbitrators from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra. She sought as much as $69 million. After testimony that spread over months and ended in January, the panel issued a swift decision in Beverley’s favor. The bank dismissed the brothers around the time Beverley filed her complaint and paid their legal fees in the Finra dispute. Now 94, Beverley moved to Florida from her longtime home in Columbus, Ohio, around 2009, settling into the condo in Bal Harbour, an affluent area just north of Miami Beach. A few years later, her son Bobby and his wife, Caroline, moved into the unit below. Beverley already had a fortune, by most standards. Alvin, her late husband, was one of four sons of Ephraim Schottenstein, an immigrant from Lithuania who sold overstock goods from a buggy before opening his first shop in Columbus in 1917. The sons expanded Schottenstein Stores Corp., with Alvin as its president, until his death in 1984. A half-decade later Beverley and her children cashed out of the family business with a $90 million legal settlement—about $18 million each for Beverley and her four children.