Erez Law, PLLC, Obtains $14.2 Million FINRA Arbitration Award for Florida Investors Wronged by Broker's Structured Note Recommendations

    MIAMI, FL, October 11, 2024 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Erez Law, PLLC, announced today that a Financial Regulatory Authority (FINRA) panel has ordered Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., Inc. (Stifel) to pay more than $14.2 million to the law firm's clients due to the brokerage firm's alleged failure to supervise the handling of their structured note investments by one of its lead brokers.

Although the Miami Beach-based broker, Chuck A. Roberts (CRD #2064602), was not named as a party in the FINRA complaint, his alleged misconduct served as the basis for the action filed against Stifel. It is also the basis for more than a dozen additional pending FINRA complaints, said the law firm's managing partner, Jeffrey Erez.

The three-member FINRA Dispute Resolution Services panel awarded the law firm's Florida-based clients —Louis R. Deluca, Elizabeth Deluca, and their healthcare consulting firm, UBS, Inc. — $4.1 million in compensatory damages (plus interest), $9 million in punitive damages, $1.1 million in legal fees, and $146,000 in additional costs and other fees.

"The arbitrators followed the law in our view and provided an award based on the evidence and the law," Erez told Financial Advisor Magazine, one of several media outlets that have reported on the panel's October 3, 2024, decision. "We are very pleased. We think this is accountability for the clients who are deserving of accountability."

Investment News reports that Stifel plans to move to vacate the award even though such motions "are almost never granted by courts in such arbitration awards."

In May 2023, Erez Law, PLLC, filed the FINRA complaint (Case No. 23-01288) against Stifel on behalf of the Delucas. The complaint alleged, in part, that they had suffered substantial investment losses due to Roberts' structured note recommendations.

Structured notes are highly complex debt securities. They feature an embedded derivative component linked to the performance of an underlying reference asset, such as an individual stock or index.

The complaint alleged that Roberts, in addition to other alleged wrongdoing, often recommended auto-callable contingent structured notes that offered little to no meaningful downside protection against a sharp decline in the price of the underlying reference assets.

The Delucas sought damages from Stifel based on the brokerage firm's alleged breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, negligent supervision, fraud, breach of contract, and violations of the Florida Securities and Investor Protection Act. Under FINRA rules, member firms are responsible for supervising a broker's activities when the broker is registered with the firm.

Currently, Erez Law, PLLC, represents clients in numerous other complaints against Stifel on behalf of customers who claim they similarly suffered investment losses due to the structured notes and speculative stocks recommended by Roberts, who has been registered with Stifel since 2016 and operating in its CR Wealth Management Group in Miami Beach.

About Erez Law, PLLC

The attorneys of Erez Law, PLLC, represent individual investors, retirees, trusts, pension plans, partnerships, family partnerships, and ultra-high-net-worth individuals in the U.S. and internationally in FINRA arbitrations, AAA arbitrations, JAMS arbitrations, and in state and federal courts in actions seeking the recovery of their clients' investment losses from brokerage firms and financial advisers. The firm's office is located at 1 SE 3rd Avenue, Suite 1670, Miami, FL, 33131. To reach Erez Law, PLLC, call (305) 728-3320 or submit an online contact form.

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