Robert W. Baird & Co. has been ordered by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority to pay a Florida investment advisor $170,000 for harm Baird did to his career when it fired him last year.
Dennis E. Michels had worked for Baird in Orlando, Fla., for 10 years building a book of business when he was fired in February 2012. Baird failed to provide a reason for the firing for three weeks. Before and after the firing, Baird representatives called Michels’ clients and told them of the firing in an attempt to keep his clients, Michels says in his complaint filed with Finra.
Baird eventually said the reason it fired Michels was because of failure to follow company policy in the handling of a client’s savings bonds, because his assistant copied account forms and because he did not disclose his association with a non-profit community organization, according to the complaint.
In ordering Baird to pay the award, Finra also ordered the reason for his firing to be changed to “termination of employee-at-will over policy differences.”
The attorney for Michels, Philip J. Snyderburn of Maitland, Fla., said the accusations made by Baird were false and defamatory. Michels’ Finra complaint labeled Baird’s actions a “witch hunt.”
Michels had built up a book of business of 120 clients with $53 million in assets under management by the time he left Baird. During his years there, he was sent to Baird’s Milwaukee headquarters to teach other advisors his fee-based techniques, the complaint says.
Because of the firing, Michels has lost most of his book of business and it was impossible to find a first-tier financial firm to hire him, he said in his complaint. He now works for a private wealth management firm. His AUM has dropped to $27 million and his gross revenues have dropped from $613,000 to $200,000.
Michels says he feels vindicated by the Finra award and he is pleased his reputation and honorable record have been restored.
Baird declined to comment on the matter.