FINRA Claim Against STANLEY C. NIEKRAS Alleges $70,000 Fee to Elderly Clients

STANLEY C. NIEKRAS (CRD# 2417486)
was named a respondent in a FINRA complaint alleging that he misrepresented to his elderly clients, a husband and wife both in their 90s and in declining physical and mental health, that he was entitled to more than $70,000 for purported estate and financial planning services. The complaint alleges that although Stanley C. Niekras did not have a financial planning or investment advisory agreement with these elderly clients, he presented them with bills claiming that he had spent hundreds of hours over a four-year period working on his clients' financial future and that he was entitled to retroactive compensation at a rate of $250 per hour.
The FINRA complaint also alleges that clients gifted approximately $500,000 in cash and securities to each of their three children in 2012. These gifts were transferred into brokerage accounts that Niekras opened for each of clients' children at his member firm. Niekras recommended that the clients' children purchase a variable annuity with the assets they had received from their parents. Niekras misrepresented to the clients' children that they would not pay commissions if they purchased the variable annuities he recommended. Niekras anticipated that the sales of variable annuities to the customers' children would result in about $75,000 in commissions for himself.
The children declined the variable annuities that Niekras recommended. Niekras presented the clients with the bills for estate and financial planning. Niekras did not have an investment advisory or financial planning agreement with the elderly clients and was not entitled to estate or financial planning fees from them.
The FINRA complaint states that Niekras admits that the bills he presented to the clients were intended to replace the commissions he would have received from the sale of variable annuities he recommended to their children. Niekras did not show his bills to anyone at his firm or otherwise seek the firm's approval to charge his elderly clients for purported estate or financial planning services. The bills that Niekras created violated the firm's procedures which caused Niekras to misrepresent and omit material facts.
According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, STANLEY C. NIEKRAS has had seven customer disputes. Three disputes involved sales of unsuitable variable annuities. Neikras was registered in the securities industry for 21 years and his most recent firms were:
05/2014 - 10/2015 PURSHE KAPLAN STERLING INVESTMENTS - Watertown, NY
05/2005 - 01/2014 MML INVESTORS SERVICES, LLC - LIVERPOLL, NY
If you or an elderly loved one were clients of STANLEY C. NIEKRAS and experienced losses due to his actions or recommendations, call Soreide Law Group for a no-cost consultation regarding the possibility of recovering your losses at:  888-760-6552.
Soreide Law Group operates on a contingency basis and represents our clients nationwide before FINRA.