FINRA on Wednesday barred an ex broker based in Georgia, Roger Roemmich, after he failed to hand over documents and cooperate with an investigation, a violation of industry rules and a standard outcome when a broker leaves the financial advice industry or retires.
But it turns out Roemmich is at the center of at least four investor complaints seeking $9.8 million damages against two of the firms where he once worked.
Clients alleged that the advisor breached his fiduciary, made unsuitable recommendations of investments, and other claims, when he sold them a series of private placements and real estate investments.
Three investors’ claims are against Dempsey Lord Smith, the assets of which were sold last year to Cambridge Investment Research Inc., and three are against Alexander Capital, a broker-dealer based in Red Bank, N.J.
According to his BrokerCheck profile, Roemmich began his career in the securities industry in 1984 and worked at 10 firms in total before leaving the industry last May.
Roemmich agreed to the FINRA settlement without admitting to its findings, according to the settlement.
Roemmich is not named in the complaints but his former firms are.
“He denies the claims made against him,” said his attorney, Scott Sherman. “He provided a mitigation statement to FINRA that he’s retired from the business and the cost of responding to FINRA was going to be significant in light of the FINRA request.”
Alexander Capital’s CEO, Joseph Amato, did not return a call Thursday to comment.
Roemmich resigned last May from Alexander Capital, according to his BrokerCheck profile.
At that time, he was subject “of a written customer complaint alleging that he had made unsuitable recommendations and the subject of a customer initiated civil suit alleging, among other things, that Mr. Roemmich had committed fraud, securities fraud and had breached his fiduciary duty,” according to BrokerCheck.
The products involved in the claim were real estate securities and limited partnerships, according to BrokerCheck.
The largest claim involving the retired broker is a client seeking $7.5 million in damages and was filed May 1, 2025, in state court in Georgia.
According to BrokerCheck, Roemmich worked at Dempsey Lord Smith from 2016 to 2020, moved to Alexander Capital, and then resigned last year.
In November, Cambridge bought Dempsey Lord Smith, a broker-dealer with 75 advisors, for close to $5.2 million.
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