Stephen Leroy Whittaker (Stephen Whittaker) – Financial Advisor/Broker Stephen Whittaker Suspended from Securities Industry | Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A. May Recover Investor Losses
Stephen Leroy Whittaker (Stephen Whittaker) CRD #831765
Stephen Whittaker was a previously licensed financial advisor with First Financial Equity Corporation. According to FINRA, Stephen Whittaker was suspended from the securities industry for three months and fined $5,000, in October 2020.
According to FINRA Allegations:
From March 2018 through March 2019, while associated with FFEC, Whittaker engaged in an outside business activity without providing FFEC prior written notice, in violation of FINRA Rules 3270 and 2010.
FINRA Rule 3270 prohibits registered persons from acting as an employee, independent contractor, sole proprietor, officer, director or partner of another person, or being compensated, or having the reasonable expectation of compensation, from any other person as a result of any business activity outside the scope of the relationship with his or her member firm, unless he or she has provided prior written notice to the member, in such form as specified by the member. A violation of FINRA Rule 3270 also constitutes a violation of FINRA Rule 2010, which requires that members and associated persons observe high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade.
From March 2018 through March 2019, Whittaker was engaged in business activities outside the scope of his relationship with FFEC when he accepted compensation for tax preparation services from three FFEC clients.
FFEC’s written supervisory procedures during the relevant period required registered representatives to provide prior written notice to the firm and receive approval before engaging in an outside business activity. Whittaker failed to provide prior written notice to FFEC to provide tax preparation services. Additionally, Whittaker did not disclose the activity as an outside business activity on his 2018 annual compliance attestation to FFEC.
Goodman & Nekvasil P.A. May Recover Investor Losses
If you lost money on investments with Stephen Whittaker and believe the investments may have been unsuitable or otherwise improper for you, we would like to discuss the possibility of your retaining our firm to represent you in an arbitration action concerning Stephen Whittaker’ conduct. There is no charge for an evaluation of your case. Further, we handle our cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that unless we recover money for you, we charge no attorney’s fee. Unless you recover any money, you pay us nothing, not even the costs and expenses which the firm will advance on your behalf.
Kalju Nekvasil, Esq., formerly regional counsel with the NASD, now known as FINRA, has practiced in this area of the law for more than 35 years. Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A. has recovered more than $200 million on behalf of victimized investors. If you lost money on investments with Stephen Whittaker and would like your case evaluated by a securities attorney (again, there is no charge for an evaluation and all cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis), please contact us.
Some of the information in this blog post was obtained on 10/8/2020 directly from FINRA BrokerCheck, without any changes. If you believe this information was reported incorrectly, please contact our firm at 1-800-500-4442.