Nolan Baird of Stifel Nicolaus Allegedly Exercised Discretion in a Customer’s Account

According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Nolan Dudley Baird Jr. allegedly exercised discretion in a customer’s account while employed at Stifel, Nicolaus & Company. This occurred at various times from April 2015 through May 2016, when Baird improperly used discretion to place 27 trades in the account belonging to a customer. He did not receive written authorization to use discretion from the client. This is against securities laws and for this he was fined $7,500 and suspended for fifteen days from the industry.

According to his online BrokerCheck report with FINRA, Baird Jr. was previously registered with The Robinson-Humphrey Company in Atlanta, Georgia from April 1987 until August 1991, Fidelity Brokerage Services in Smithfield, Rhode Island from December 1991 until January 1992, Oppenheimer in New York, New York from May 1992 until September 1993, Smith Barney in New York from September 1993 until August 1995, First Union Capital Markets in Charlotte, North Carolina from July 1995 until October 1999 and Wells Fargo Advisors in Augusta, Georgia from October 1999 until July 2013. He is currently registered with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company in Augusta and has been since July 2013. He has one customer dispute against him alleging breach of fiduciary, breach of contract, common law fraud, negligence, negligent misrepresentation, suitability, churning and violations of the Georgia Securities Act. These are all against securities laws.