Eric Hollifield has been discharged by his brokerage firm, LPL Financial, allegedly for his failure to disclose his outside business activities. This was in August 2021. Hollifield has also been barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). This is on account of the alleged conversion of the funds of an elderly client and emanates from the broker’s non-compliance with FINRA requests.
On the 1st of September, Hollifield was discharged by Hamilton Investment Counsel (HIC), a registered investment advisory firm he had founded around the time he had joined LPL Financial, for his failure to disclose outside business activities. Many of these events are recent.
Hollifield’s history
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Joining the industry in 1998, Merrill Lynch was the first firm Eric Shea Hollifield was registered with. This was followed by an association with H&R Block Financial Advisors, Stern Agee Financial Services, and finally LPL Financial, effective 2016.
HIC, the registered investment advisory firm founded by Hollifield, is an entity distinct from LPL Financial. Based on the LinkedIn profile of Hollifield, as well as the website of the company, it appears that its formation had been cleared with LPL.
What are LPL Financial complaints?
LPL Financial is an American financial services company with holdings in investment management, securities brokerage, banking, and retirement. The company operates a network of locations across the United States. Headquartered in New York City, LPL Financial is a publicly-traded company listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange. It has more than 19,000 employees and operates over 500 branch locations throughout the United States.
According to FINRA BrokerCheck, LPL has 240 disclosures of which 180 are regulatory events, 56 arbitration claims, and 4 involve bonds. An example is a cease and desist issued by the SEC on 9/30/21 when one of its advisors misappropriated $4.1 million of a city’s funds.
Case findings
On the 21st of September, FINRA asked Hollifield to appear for testimony as well as provide documents pertaining to the case of conversion of funds of an elderly customer that they were investigating.
By the 27th, Hollifield had communicated his intention of not complying with the requests, inviting the censure from FINRA. This is as per the Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent issued the week prior. According to FINRA, while the bar has been accepted, the broker has neither denied nor admitted the findings.
