Curtis Ridlon, Waddell & Reed Broker, Ordered To Pay $6.1 Million

Curtis Ridlon, a former Waddell & Reed broker, has been ordered to pay $6.1 million for allegedly collecting millions of dollars in fees from his brokerage customers for optional financial planning services. Ridlon allegedly told his customers that they were required to pay an annual fee for his services based on the value of their brokerage accounts, despite his having collected commissions and fees on the accounts already. Many of the contracts the clients signed were missing pages that explained that the plans and related services were optional, and clients were not aware that they could opt out of the financial planning products. The clients claimed they were led to believe that the payments were required if they wanted to keep their accounts with Waddell. This was not the case. From 2008 until 2016, Ridlon gained $2.8 million in fees from more than 200 customers, more than half of them being over 65 years old.
According to his online BrokerCheck report with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Mr. Ridlon was registered with Waddell & Reed in Bedford, New Hampshire from September 1985 until October 2016. He has two customer disputes against him, one of which is pending, claiming he failed to appropriately manage risk within an account, refused to follow direction and over-concentrated an account in gold. He is currently not registered within the industry. Please call today if you suffered losses with Mr. Ridlon. We may be able to help you recover your losses in the FINRA arbitration forum on a contingency fee basis. The call is free with no obligation.