Stifel Fined $2.5 Million After Advisor Charged Excessive Fees to Seniors and a Church

Posted on May 4th, 2023 at 1:24 PM
Stifel Fined $2.5 Million After Advisor Charged Excessive Fees to Seniors and a Church

From the desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law 

Massachusetts’ top securities regulator, William Galvin, has ordered Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. to pay $2.5 million for failing to supervise an advisor’s questionable trades, which charged excessive and unauthorized fees to several senior clients, nonprofits, and a church.

Stifel has additionally agreed to pay at least $700,000 in restitution to Massachusetts customers as part of a consent order. According to Galvin, former Stifel advisor Joseph Crespi “subjected many of his clients to predatory sales practices over several years, leading to higher commission sales for himself and his employer.” Galvin’s investigation further discovered “wide-ranging harm” to Massachusetts customers, which stemmed from “multiple instances of Stifel employees using personal cell phones to conduct business and distributing retail communications in violation of firm and regulatory requirements.”

Galvin’s order additionally noted that Stifel has paid more than $14 million in fines, civil penalties, disgorgement, and restitution over the past five years. Crespi, who was registered with Stifel between 2018 and 2022, was the firm’s sixth highest-producing New England-based employee as of June 2019.

 

Eccleston Law LLC represents financial advisors and investors nationwide in securities, employment, transition, regulatory and disciplinary matters.

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