Securities Lawyers Blog
The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating BrokerCheck records reports that financial advisor Joel Davidman (Davidman), currently employed by Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated (Stifel Nicolaus) has been subject to at least three customer complaints, one employment termination for cause, and two regulatory actions during the course of his career. According to records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Davidman’s customer complaint alleges that Davidman recommended unsuitable investments in a variety of investment products including bonds among other allegations of misconduct relating to the handling of their accounts.
In May 2015 Davidman’s employer Morgan Stanley discharged Davidman alleging that the representative engaged in discretionary trades in a client’s account without authorization.
Thereafter, FINRA investigated the allegations and in July 2017 suspended Davidman after alleging that he consented to sanctions and findings that he exercised discretionary trading authority in the accounts of customers without obtaining prior written authorization from each of the customers or approval from his member firm to treat the customers’ accounts as discretionary. FINRA found that Davidman effected some of the trades using time and price discretion and the remaining occurred without Davidman discussing and receiving approval for the trades from the customers on the dates of the transactions.