Stifel, Nicolaus & Company will pay $460,000 to settle a FINRA disciplinary action for failing to supervise the activities of two of its brokers. The discipline stemmed out of multiple customer complaints. The first Stifel broker, Steven Dale Rodemer, was accused of stealing client funds. The second broker, Matthew Perry, was accused of engaging in unsuitable high-risk option trading and penny-stock trading for multiple clients including one retiree who lost 80% of his funds.
FINRA barred Pueblo, Colorado-based ex-broker Steven Dale Rodemer (CRD #830561) in 2020 for failing to cooperate with investigators looking into allegations Rodemer took money from a client's account for personal use without authorization or consent. The Securities and Exchange Commission took it a step further, alleging Rodemer abused his power-of-attorney role to misappropriate hundreds of thousands of dollars from an elderly widow.
The SEC case alleged Rodemer misappropriated $451,889 of the senior customer's funds and the SEC also barred Rodemer from acting as a broker or investment adviser, as well as prohibiting Rodemer sell or participate in the offering of penny stocks.
A 2022 customer dispute against Stifel accuses the firm of negligent supervision and Rodemer of civil fraud, theft, and breach of fiduciary duty.
As for former Stifel broker Matthew Alexander Perry (CRD #5985300), a number of settled customer disputes alleged Perry engaged in unauthorized and unsuitable trades, resulting in losses. Allegations include fraudulent misrepresentation, negligent misrepresentation, unauthorized trading, and breach of the duty of suitability. FINRA barred Perry in 2021.
FINRA's present-day censure and fine against Stifel Financial as a broker-dealer holds the firm accountable for failing to properly supervise it brokers, Rodemer and Perry, finding that each broker's misconduct resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars of losses and damages, including a 64-year-old retired school teacher who lost 80% of his funds when unsuitably sold low-cost stocks in a failing company.
If you invested with Stifel Financial, Steven Rodemer, or with any broker, brokerage firm, or investment adviser whose supervisory failures, negligence, unsuitable recommendations, or unauthorized transactions have proven harmful to your investments or interests, please call an experienced FINRA arbitration attorney at The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.