• August 17, 2023
• Stifel Nicolaus & Company

Chuck Roberts (CRD#: 2064602) is a registered Broker and Investment Adviser at Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Inc., in New York, NY.

Broker’s Background

He entered the securities industry in 1990 and previously worked for Morgan Stanley; Citigroup Global Markets, Inc.; Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.; CIBC World Markets Corp.; M.J. Whitman, Inc.; Painewebber Inc., and Lehman Brothers, Inc.

Current And Past Allegations Of Conduct

According to publicly available records released by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), in July 2023, a customer dispute was filed against Chuck Roberts. The allegation states, “Claimants allege breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, breach of contract, and violation of the Florida securities and investor protection act.” The customer dispute is pending and damages of $1M are sought.

Structured Notes are complex financial instruments belonging to a category of products called structured investment products. The Securities and Exchange Commission defines a structured investment as “securities whose cash flow characteristics depend upon one or more indices or that have embedded forwards or options or securities where an investor’s investment return and the issuer’s payment obligations are contingent on, or highly sensitive to, changes in the value of underlying assets, indices, interest rates or cash flows.” Essentially, the value of a structured product is highly correlated to the price of the underlying asset.

Adjustable-rate market linked notes can be tied to a variety of benchmarks or indexes, including stock indices (such as the S&P 500) or derivative benchmarks (such as the Constant Maturity Swap, or CMS). The interest rate paid to investors ranges from zero (when the underlying asset performs poorly) up to a maximum percentage (when the underlying asset performs well). The details of how notes perform, as well as how the note’s interest rate is calculated, are outlined in the note’s prospectus. However, these details are not well understood by most investors, who rely on their financial advisor’s assistance when determining which investments are a good fit for their portfolio.

Chuck Roberts has been the subject of 10 other customer complaints and has two disclosed regulatory infractions, many of which relate to structured notes:

• June 2023 — “Claimants allege breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, breach of contract, and violation of the Florida securities and investor protection act.” The customer dispute is pending, and damages of $5M are sought.
• May 2023 — “Claimants allege breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, breach of contract, and violation of the California Corporations Code.” The customer dispute is pending, and damages of $1M are sought.
• May 2023 — “Claimants allege breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, breach of contract, and violation of the Florida securities and investor protection act.” The customer dispute is pending, and damages of $500,000 are requested.
• May 2023 — “Claimants allege breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, breach of contract, and violation of the Florida securities and investor protection act.” The customer dispute is pending, and damages of $5M are sought.
• May 2023 — “Claimants allege a breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, breach of contract, violation of the Florida securities and investor protection act, and violation of ERISA.” The customer dispute is pending. Damages of $5M are requested.
• May 2023 — “Claimants allege breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, breach of contract, and violation of the Florida securities and investor protection act.” The customer dispute is pending. Damages of $1M are requested.
• May 2023 — “Claimants allege breach of fiduciary duty, negligence, fraud, breach of contract, and violation of the Florida securities and investor protection act.” The customer dispute is pending. Damages of $5M are requested.
• April 2023 — “Customer alleges that he was misled about the risks and characteristics of certain investments.” The customer dispute was denied.
• October 2022 — “Claimant alleges negligence (breach of FINRA Rules), negligent misrepresentation, and breach of fiduciary duty in connection with an outside investment in a hedge fund and with investments purchased at Stifel.” The customer dispute is pending. Damages of $1M are requested.
• September 2010 — “CLAIMANTS ALLEGE, INTER ALIA, THAT BEGINNING IN 2008 THE FINANCIAL ADVISOR MADE UNSUITABLE AND UNAUTHORIZED TRADES. CLAIMANTS ALSO ALLEGE THAT FA MADE MISREPRESENTATIONS REGARDING INVESTMENTS IN THE CLAIMANTS’ ACCOUNTS.” The customer dispute was resolved with damages of $202,228 granted to the customer.
• April 2010 — “RESPONDENT’S REGISTRATION AS A SALESPERSON IN THE STATE OF ILLINOIS IS SUBJECT TO REVOCATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 8.E (1)(J)OF THE ACT.” The State of Illinois levied a civil/administrative penalty/fine of $1,000 against Chuck Roberts.
• February 2010 — “NASD RULES 2110, 2790 – CHUCK A. ROBERTS HAD KNOWLEDGE THAT A SALES ASSISTANT AND POSSIBLE OTHERS REPLACED CUSTOMER EMAIL ADDRESSES WITH THE SALES ASSISTANT’S FIRM EMAIL ADDRESS TO FACILITATE THE OPENING OF ONLINE ACCOUNTS AND TO LESSEN THE AMOUNT OF COMMUNICATIONS THAT WERE RECEIVED BY THE CUSTOMERS; THEREFORE, TRADE CONFIRMATIONS WERE SENT TO THE SALES ASSISTANT RATHER THAN THE CUSTOMERS ALTHOUGH THE CUSTOMERS CONTINUED TO RECEIVE THEIR MONTHLY ACCOUNT STATEMENTS, PROSPECTUSES AND 1099 FEDERAL TAX FORMS BY MAIL. ROBERTS CAUSED HIS FIRM’S VIOLATION OF SEC RULE 17A-3 AND NASD RULE 3110. ROBERTS’ RELATIVE OPENED SEVERAL ACCOUNTS AT HIS MEMBER FIRM WHICH ROBERTS SERVICED BUT FAILED TO DISCLOSE TO THE FIRM THAT THE INDIVIDUAL WHO OWNED THE ACCOUNTS WAS A RELATIVE. HAD ROBERTS MADE SUCH DISCLOSURE, THE ACCOUNT NUMBERS ASSIGNED TO THE ACCOUNTS WOULD CONTAIN A PREFIX IDENTIFYING THEM AS BEING EMPLOYEE RELATED.” Chuck Robers was censured by FINRA, sanctioned with a civil/administrative penalty/fine of $40,000, and suspended from any capacity for four weeks beginning March 15, 2010 and ending April 11, 2010. For a copy of the FINRA sanction, click here.

For a copy of Chuck Roberts’s FINRA BrokerCheck, click here.

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