Robert Scott Wilder of Atlanta, Georgia, a stockbroker formerly registered with Sterne Agee Financial Services, Inc., has been fined $5,000.00 and suspended for three months from associating with any Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) member in any capacity based upon consenting to findings that he sold away from his firm. Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent, No. 2015048075801 (Nov. 13, 2017).
According to the AWC, an investment advisory, Lakeview Capital Management, LLC, was created by Wilder in June of 2009. Four individuals were then reportedly solicited by Wilder to buy promissory notes that Lakeview issued. In particular, from June 19, 2009 to January 4, 2010, four promissory notes sold to customers amounting to $200,000.00 had been effected with Wilder’s assistance, where the parties to the promissory notes involved customers of two brokerage firms that Wilder associated with – Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. and Triad Advisors, Inc.
The AWC stated that Lakeview’s subscription agreements and private placement memorandums had been distributed by Wilder to customers, and the subscription agreements and promissory notes had been executed by Wilder on behalf of Lakeview. However, neither Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. nor Triad Advisors, Inc. ever received written notification of the private securities transactions that Wilder engaged in. The firms never authorized Wilder’s activities. Consequently, FINRA found that Wilder’s conduct of selling away constituted violations of FINRA Rules 2010 and NASD Conduct Rule 3040.
FINRA Public Disclosure reveals that Wilder has been identified in four customer initiated investment related disputes containing allegations of his misconduct while employed with Morgan Keegan & Company, Inc. and A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc. Particularly, on April 11, 1999, a customer filed an investment related written complaint involving Wilder’s conduct, where the customer requested compensatory damages supported by accusations of omissions and misrepresentations in reference to the customer’s stock investments. The customer additionally alleged that a margin trading agreement was executed without the customer’s consent, and unauthorized distributions were effected from the customer’s individual retirement account.
Subsequently, on July 23, 2001, a customer filed an investment related written complaint regarding Wilder’s activities, in which the customer sought more than $5,000.00 in damages founded on allegations of misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, churning and unauthorized trading relating to mutual fund transactions executed in the customer’s account. Then, a customer initiated investment related arbitration claim involving Wilder’s conduct was settled for $40,000.00 in damages based upon accusations that Wilder made misrepresentations, negligently managed the customer’s investments, breached his fiduciary duties, and defrauded the customer regarding equities and an outside money manager. National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) Arbitration No. 04-00493 (Mar. 8, 2006).
Following Wilder’s departure from Triad Advisors, Inc., he was employed with Sterne Agee Financial Services, Inc. between June 21, 2013 and December 15, 2015.
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