Steve Wedel: $300K REIT Complaint Against Four Seasons Advisor

Naples, Florida financial advisor Steve Wedel (CRD# 1221992) has received several investor complaints. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records show that he is a broker with Private Client Services, doing business as Four Seasons Wealth Management, and an investment advisor with RFG Advisory. He was previously registered with LPL Financial in Creve Coeur, Missouri.

Mr. Wedel’s BrokerCheck report discloses two investor complaints. The most recent, filed in May 2022, alleges that as a representative of LPL Financial, he concentrated the customers’ account in an unsuitable publicly traded business development company. In June 2022 the complaint reached a settlement of $8,000.

In a statement on the 2022 complaint’s disclosure, Mr. Wedel wrote that the firm settled the matter without his knowledge and that he was not a named party in the complaint. He added that he believed the firm settled the complaint to avoid the costs of litigation, denying that the investment was unsuitable for the customer. “As I do with all my clients, I discussed their risk tolerance, time horizon, and investment objectives as well as the objectives and specific risks of the investments they purchased,” he wrote. “I also deny that they were over concentrated in the alternative investments in which they chose to invest. My client is a CPA and business owner, and is a knowledgeable and experienced investor who understood the risks associated with alternative investments. I vigorously deny any liability or wrongdoing in this matter, even though my former broker-dealer settled for financial reasons of their own.”

A second investor complaint, filed in 2020, alleged that as a representative of LPL Financial, he recommended investments in real estate investment trusts that overexposed the client to risk. The pending complaint alleges damages of $300,000.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Steve Wedel holds 38 years of securities industry experience. Based in Naples, Florida and Creve Coeur, Missouri, he is a broker with Private Client Services—doing business as Four Seasons Wealth Management—and an investment advisor with RFG Advisory. His past registrations include LPL Financial (Creve Coeur, Missouri; 2003-2018), Veravest Investments and Veravest Investment Advisors (Creve Coeur, Missouri and Worcester, Massachusetts; 2008-2003), and First Investors Corporation (1984). His credentials include the passage of eight securities industry qualifying examinations: the General Securities Principal Examination, or Series 24; the Municipal Fund Securities Principal Examination, or Series 51; the Investment Company Products/Variable Contracts Representative Examination, or Series 6; the Direct Participation Programs Representative Examination, or Series 22; the General Securities Representative Examination, or Series 7; the Futures Managed Funds Examination, or Series 31; the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, or Series  63; and the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination, or Series 65. He holds 26 state licenses. (Information current as of July 20, 2022.)

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