Stifel, Nicolaus & Company, Incorporated is one of the largest full-service broker-dealers in the United States, with thousands of financial advisors managing billions in client assets. In recent years, Stifel Nicolaus municipal bond losses have drawn regulatory scrutiny and investor complaints. The Easterly ROCMuni High Income Fund collapse, a large
If you lost money through BlockFi Interest Accounts, you may have legal options to seek recovery through individual litigation or arbitration. BlockFi’s collapse in November 2022, following the implosion of FTX, left hundreds of thousands of investors facing significant losses. The Securities and Exchange Commission had already found that BlockFi
Collecting evidence in a securities fraud case starts before a claim is filed. Investors should preserve account records, recommendations, communications, product documents, and loss timelines so counsel can evaluate liability, damages, forum, and deadlines without relying on memory alone. The first review should identify the precise record, governing duty, forum,
When you discover that your broker or brokerage firm has caused you significant financial losses through misconduct, choosing the right legal forum to pursue your claim becomes a critical decision. As of 2026, understanding the differences between FINRA arbitration and court litigation can significantly impact the outcome, timeline, and cost
Target date funds are sold as straightforward “set it and forget it” retirement vehicles. In reality, the way a broker or financial adviser recommends these products to individual investors — which vintage, which fund family, which risk profile — can make the difference between a secure retirement and devastating losses.
Definition: Leveraged ETF fraud occurs when leveraged or inverse ETFs are recommended without fair disclosure of daily reset risk, volatility decay, holding-period limits, and suitability concerns. These products can perform very differently from the index over time, so the recommendation record and investor profile matter from the start. Updated June
Losses in tender offer funds often arise when investors were sold illiquid closed-end fund structures without a clear explanation of limited repurchase rights, valuation uncertainty, fees, leverage, or alternative-asset risk. The first review should identify the precise record, governing duty, forum, deadline, and damages theory before the matter is framed
Definition: Interval fund fraud occurs when an illiquid closed-end fund is recommended or sold without fair disclosure of repurchase limits, valuation risk, fees, leverage, or investor-profile mismatch. These claims often focus on whether the investor needed liquidity, understood restricted redemptions, and received balanced disclosures before the recommendation. Interval funds have
Definition: Buffer ETF fraud occurs when a defined-outcome ETF is recommended or sold without fair disclosure of the buffer period, downside limits, upside cap, fees, and risks of buying or selling outside the outcome window. The core issue is whether the recommendation matched the investor’s objectives, time horizon, and risk
Definition: Principal protected note fraud occurs when a structured note is sold as safe or guaranteed while material issuer-credit risk, market risk, fees, liquidity limits, payoff conditions, or early-sale consequences are omitted or misrepresented. Investors usually need a claim review that compares the sales pitch, offering documents, account profile, and
Structured notes are among the most complex and misunderstood investment products sold to retail investors. When brokers recommend these products without fully explaining the risks or recommending them to investors for whom they are unsuitable, the results can be financially devastating. If you have suffered losses from structured notes due
When investment fraud or broker misconduct causes you to lose money, understanding how damages are calculated becomes essential to recovering what you deserve. The calculation method used can mean the difference between recovering a fraction of your losses and obtaining full compensation for the harm you suffered. At Varnavides Law,