Stephen Lawler Has Investor Complaints – Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A., May Recover Investor Losses
Peoria, Illinois financial advisor Stephen Lawler (CRD# 1193477) has received multiple investor complaints alleging he recommended unsuitable investments. FINRA records show that he is a broker and an investment advisor with Cetera Advisors and Cetera Investment Advisors.
Stephen Lawler Investigation
Mr. Lawler’s BrokerCheck report discloses several investor complaints
The most recent, filed in July 2023, alleges that he recommended unsuitable products. The pending complaint alleges unspecified damages.
A second investor complaint, filed in 2022, alleged that as a First Allied Securities representative, he recommended unsuitable investments, over-concentrated securities, made misrepresentations of material facts, and breached his fiduciary duty. In May 2023 the complaint reached a settlement of $425,000.
A third investor complaint, filed in 2021, alleges that as a representative of First Allied Securities, he recommended unsuitable real estate investment trusts (REITs). The pending complaint alleges damages of $100,000. In a statement included with the complaint’s disclosure, Mr. Lawler defended himself against the allegations. “The investments recommended to these clients performed well, and nearly all the investments netted the clients a positive return,” he wrote, continuing: “It is unfortunate the clients have decided to cherry-pick the only investment which did not perform as expected, in disregard of the substantial net profits the clients enjoyed from the investments purchased upon my recommendation.” He proceeded to describe his recommendations as “suitable” and asserted that the clients “were fully aware of the risks and the investment that has not performed well constituted a very small percentage of their portfolio.”
A fourth investor complaint, filed in 2021, alleges that he recommended unsuitable investments, breached his fiduciary duty, over-concentrated investments in the account, misrepresented material facts, breached contract, and acted negligently while he was an Investacorp representative. The pending complaint alleges unspecified damages. “The statement of claim is against my former broker-dealer,” he wrote in a comment included with the complaint’s disclosure, “and I expressly deny the allegations in the complaint.”
A fifth investor complaint, filed in 2020, alleged that he recommended unsuitable REITs while a representative of Investacorp. The complaint reached a settlement of $7,500.
Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A., is investigating brokers who may have unsuitably recommended investments to its clients.
St. Petersburg, Florida law firm Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A., has a national practice representing victimized investors. The firm continues to investigate brokerage firms that placed elderly retirees and other conservative investors in unsuitable investments.
Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A., has filed numerous cases against brokerage firms selling high-risk investments and has recovered more than $400 million dollars on behalf of victimized investors. We allege in these cases that these investment recommendations were unsuitable for our clients in view of their financial situation, needs and investment objectives.
There is no charge for an evaluation of your case. We handle our cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that unless we recover money for you, we charge no attorney’s fee.
If you incurred losses on your investment and would like your case evaluated by a securities attorney, please contact us.
Some of the information in this blog post was obtained from FINRA on 8/25/23. If you believe this information was reported incorrectly, please contact our firm: 1-800-500-4442.