Ex-Employee Files Defamation Suit Against Stifel, Nicolaus & Co.

Global financial services firm Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. and one of its executives in Benton County have been named in a defamation lawsuit filed by one of the firm’s former investment advisers, Andy Hardie of Rogers.

Hardie, now employed by Wilbanks Securities, filed the complaint Aug. 17 in Benton County Circuit Court.

The suit, brought by Rogers attorney Ken Shemin, is related to Hardie’s termination from Stifel in April for non-disclosure of tax liens.

According to the filing, Stifel vice president Ken Williams, the firm’s top executive in its Rogers office, found evidence of inappropriate investments Hardie had made involving one of his major clients, the pension fund governed by the city of Rogers’ Firemen’s Pension Board. The discovery was made while reviewing Hardie’s accounts after the termination.

In a June 17 meeting of the pension board, Williams recommended a settlement to the group with a payment of $27,535.70, and the offer was accepted in July.

The lawsuit claims Williams made disparaging statements about Hardie to the board, the public and to Hardie’s customers after he was let go in April.

In the lawsuit, Shemin wrote that Williams, “knew that the statements he was making on behalf of Stifel were false and did so for the sole purpose of injuring the reputation of Hardie, and in order to attempt to convince [the pension board] to become a client of Stifel, rather than continue its business relationship with Hardie.”

Shemin wrote that his client enjoyed a very “cordial and professional” relationship with the board until he was let go at Stifel.

Hardie, who had worked for Stifel for nearly five years, is seeking unspecified punitive damages to be determined by a jury trial.