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Randall Kiefner

Regulation and Compliance > Litigation

Ex-Morgan Stanley, Schwab Broker Arrested on Child Porn Charges

By Jeff Berman

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A former Morgan Stanley and Charles Schwab broker was arrested at his home in Apopka, Florida on April 5 and charged with 21 counts of possessing, controlling, viewing and/or depicting child pornography, according to the Seminole County Sheriff’s Office.

Randall Brian Kiefner, 60, pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance, on April 6, according to filings on the Seminole County Circuit Court’s website.

However, Kiefner “admitted” to Seminole County detectives who went to his home after receiving a tip from Yahoo about “presumed child pornography” detected in his email that he viewed child porn on his iPhone via the Tumblr app, according to the arrest report.

Kiefner told detectives that his email address became “restricted” after he tried to transfer a file from his mobile phone to his email address, according to the arrest report. Although he declined to specify the contents of that file, “when confronted with the title of the videos,” Kiefner admitted to viewing the child porn, the arrest report stated.

“He also admitted to having multiple applications where he seeks and shares child pornography with other members of a specific group,” the arrest report said, adding: “Randall admitted to having a child porn addiction and preferred females between 11-14 years of age.”

Kiefner consented to having his mobile phone searched and voluntarily provided his passwords. The detective who filled out the report “found a total of 8 images of nude prepubescent females on his iPhone photo album,” according the report.

The detective also found many pictures and videos received and shared through the application Wickr, he said, and, “upon reviewing his Photo Vault application, I observed numerous labeled folders, and over 300 photos and videos containing” child porn.

Kiefner told detectives his child porn addiction started about four years ago, after losing his job, according to the arrest report.

Arbitration Dispute

The job Kiefner was apparently referring to was his position as a broker for Morgan Stanley, which fired him in 2019, a month after he joined the wirehouse from Schwab.

Schwab recently won more than $7.3 million from Morgan Stanley and two brokers it accused of stealing trade secrets when they moved to the latter firm in 2019. One of those brokers was Keifner.

The arbitration award was disclosed last month in a New Jersey federal court filing by Morgan Stanley.

Morgan Stanley said the two advisors, Kiefner and Christopher Armstrong, both of whom it fired for violating its transition policy, were still refusing to pay their share — about $1.44 million each.

“Morgan Stanley may not agree with the arbitration panel’s award but, unlike Armstrong and Kiefner, will fully honor all of its obligations under the award,” the bank said at the time.

Carlos E. Payas, Kiefner’s criminal defense attorney, did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Friday, nor did Schwab or Morgan Stanley.

Kiefner is scheduled to be arraigned May 9 at 1:30 p.m. at the Criminal Justice Center in Sanford, Florida, before Judge Donna L. McIntosh. His arrest was reported by AdvisorHub on Thursday.

(Pictured: Randall Kiefner; Image: mugshots.zone) 

Jeff Berman

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