Steven Rodemer

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado recently entered into a final judgment by consent against Steven Rodemer, a former investment adviser with Stifel, Nicolaus & Company (Stifel) in Pueblo, Colorado, for fraud in connection with his misappropriation of an elderly client’s investment funds.

According to the SEC Complaint filed on September 3, 2020, Rodemer served as the investment advisor for an elderly client and handled all of her finances, including advising and executing her investment strategy. Although he had the authority to transfer money between her bank and brokerage accounts, Rodemer used his power of attorney to write checks to himself and his bank and used the client’s brokerage account-issued debit/credit card to make ATM withdrawals for personal expenses. The SEC asserts in the Complaint that none of these transactions, which totaled $451,889, were authorized by the client and that Rodemer continued with this misconduct even after he was aware that he was being investigated for this activity.

The final judgment enjoins Rodemer from violating the antifraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and orders him to pay a civil penalty totaling $385,536.

According to his FINRA BrokerCheck report, Rodemer was associated with Stifel from November 2011 to January 2020 when he was discharged for the misconduct alleged in the SEC Complaint. In March 2020, Rodemer consented to a bar from associating with all member firms of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in any and all capacities without admitting or denying any wrongdoing in a Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent.