S.D. Stockbroker Pleads Guilty to Drug Charge

A stockbroker in the San Diego branch of a Wall Street firm rocked by a recent federal drug investigation pleaded guilty Monday to a felony cocaine charge.

The broker, 26-year-old Marshall Klein of Del Cerro, had been accused in May of selling cocaine to fellow stockbrokers at the Brooks Weinger Robbins & Leeds brokerage firm in Mission Valley. But he pleaded guilty to a single count involving a sale to an undercover agent.

The charges against Klein came just weeks after Wayne Robbins, a name partner in the brokerage firm, and eight other brokers at the firm’s New York headquarters were arrested in a highly publicized crackdown by federal authorities on alleged Wall Street drug dealing.

Nonetheless, Assistant U.S. Atty. Pat Swan said Monday that investigators at no time established a link between Klein’s drug activities and the purported cocaine ring in Brooks Weinger’s office in New York.

‘Absolutely No Tie’

“There was absolutely no tie as far as I know,” Swan said.

An undercover informant induced Klein to discuss drug sales with promises of legitimate stock purchases, according to his attorney, Allen Bloom. Undercover federal drug agents also pretended to be financiers, promising Klein that drug sales would open the door to stock deals, Bloom said.

Klein faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced in November. Bloom said prosecutors agreed not to request more than a one-year, one-day jail term, but Swan said there were no agreements regarding Klein’s sentence.

Suspended Without Pay

Brooks Weinger suspended the broker without pay following his arrest in early May. After an internal investigation, however, Klein was reinstated last week, Bloom said.

Klein’s roommate, Dennis Weisberg, pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor count of possessing marijuana.

Klein was arrested May 8 in the parking lot beside the Brooks Weinger office in Mission Valley. Weisberg was arrested the same day leaving the Del Cerro home the two men share. He had been charged with a felony count of possessing marijuana with the intent to distribute it.