Structured Note Recovery Lawyers

A federal magistrate judge has recommended upholding a historic $133 million FINRA arbitration award against Stifel Financial, rejecting the firm’s attempt to vacate the ruling related to former broker Chuck Roberts. The article details how Roberts allegedly misled wealthy clients into high-risk structured note strategies, leading to massive losses and his permanent bar from the financial industry.

The Claimants Of This Investment Loss Recovery Case Worked With Former Broker Chuck Roberts

A federal magistrate judge is recommending that a federal trial court judge reject Stifel Financial’s motion to vacate the $133M arbitration award it was ordered to pay to clients of former Stifel financial advisor Chuck Roberts. The claimants are a family that sued Stifel broker-dealer subsidiary Stifel, Nicolaus & Co for $5M in damages over structured note losses. The award granted is significantly greater.

It is rare for a Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) arbitration award to be overturned.

Stifel has agreed or been ordered to pay other former customers of Chuck Roberts for their structured note losses. A number of these awards and settlements are in the six-figures and seven-figures.

Roberts’ BrokerCheck CRD lists over 40 customer disputes, with many of the structured product cases still pending. Last year, FINRA permanently barred him from the industry, which he had worked in for 35 years.

Most recently, in December 2025, a FINRA arbitration panel awarded $850,000 to other former Chuck Roberts customers. They accused the former financial advisor of breach of contract, fraud, negligence, breach of fiduciary duty, and other broker misconduct.

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Structured Note Recovery Lawyers (investorlawyers.com) are continuing to investigate claims of investor losses by former customers of ex-Miami broker Chuck Roberts. If you want to explore your legal options, contact us today.

What Was Chuck Roberts’ Failed Structured Product Strategy?

Roberts is believed to have sold $3.7B of structured notes using a high-risk strategy that he pitched to wealthy clients. He purportedly earned $61.4M in commissions.

Structured notes are very complex, high-risk, volatile, illiquid and non-transparent debt securities. They have an embedded derivative component usually tied to the performance of an underlying asset, such as an index, stock, or more than one of each. Structured notes are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). They aren’t traded on any exchange.

Roberts purportedly did not give customers a full picture of the risks involved or fully explain to them the complex nature of their investments. He allegedly misrepresented to clients that their involvement in structured notes would allow for the preservation of capital while generating returns with a “long-term average of around 12.25%.” His former customers contend that he touted to them that investing in the structured notes he recommended was safer than investing in stocks, and “almost like a substitution for bonds…at 15%.”

Given that included in Roberts’ structured product recommendations were autocallable notes, which are extremely speculative and volatile, he clearly made misstatements. Not only that but products he sold had little (if any) downside protection if the structured note’s underlying reference assets were to lose value.

How Can Our Structured Note Recovery Lawyers Help?

Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Structured Note Recovery Lawyers are highly experienced in representing structured product investors in recouping the losses they sustained because of broker misconduct. We represent many investors against Stifel.

Call (800) 259-9010 today to schedule your free case consultation.