Star Stifel broker in Miami at center of two more client complaints totaling $6M

Stifel Financial Corp. is facing two more investor complaints claiming damages of at least $6 million linked to complex products and Chuck Roberts, a star broker in south Florida, according to Roberts’ BrokerCheck profile.

Investors filed the two fresh claims this month against Stifel, which this fall lost a stunning $14.2 million arbitration claim linked to Roberts.

In the latest round, one investor alleges at least $1 million in damages in the claim filed Dec. 2, and the other, claiming $5 million in damages, was filed three days later.

In total, Roberts is the broker involved in 17 pending customer complaints. According to his BrokerCheck profile, Stifel settled another customer complaint involving Roberts in November for $2.6 million.

The broker-dealer Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc. is the home to Stifel Financial’s network of retail financial advisors, including Roberts, who has worked there since 2016.

In the two complaints filed in December, customers alleged breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, and other claims. The lawsuits against Stifel stem from Roberts’ sale of structured noted, a complex and potentially volatile product.

“In the new, $5 million claim, we are representing the claimant,” said Stefan Apotheker, partner, Erez Law, which represented the clients who sued Stifel and won the $14.6 million claim in October.

“It’s similar issues,” Apotheker said. “The product is structured notes linked to volatile equities and sector indices, including bio-tech stocks and technology stocks.”

A spokesperson for Stifel on Monday did not return a call to comment.

InvestmentNews reported in 2023 that Robert was a 33-year industry veteran and has worked at Stifel since 2016. At the time, he was facing multiple investor claims totaling more than $20 million in damages.

Wall Street banks underwrite structured notes, which can be volatile because they are a hybrid of a bond and a derivative. Some notes have principal protection, but others don’t, and investors can lose some or all of their principal, based on the terms of the note and market volatility.

“While structured notes may enable individual retail investors to participate in investment strategies that are not typically offered to them, these products can be very complex and have significant investment risks,” stated a Securities and Exchange Commission bulletin to investors from 2015. “Before investing in structured notes, you should understand how the notes work and carefully consider their risks.”