On March 23, 2009, a St. Louis, Missouri, FINRA arbitration panel awarded investor Philip Rein $220,944 plus interest on his claims of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty and negligence against Stifel, Nicolaus & Company. 

According to award documents (FINRA # 07-01495), the claimant alleged that St. Louis-based Stifel Nicolaus failed to heed his stated investing objectives, which were focused on generating money for retirement income. Instead, Stifel created a retirement portfolio for Rein by investing a portion of his assets in a Pacific Life Variable Annuity and another portion of assets in three aggressive, all equity, money-management funds.

Ultimately, because of the Stifel’s selected investments, the investor said he lost the majority of his principal.