In their study "How Widespread and Predictable is Stock Broker Misconduct?" researchers at SLCG discovered that past customer complaints against individual brokers can indicate the likelihood of future complaints. McCann, Qin, and Yan also found that incorporating co-workers' complaint histories notably enhances the predictive accuracy for brokers without prior complaints. Furthermore, they determined that customer complaints that were denied - beyond just settlements and awards - are valuable in forecasting potential investor harm.

Egan, Matvos, and Seru's research underscores that, rather than eliminating underperforming brokers from the industry, the regulatory environment and labor market tend to funnel these brokers towards firms that hire individuals with disproportionately high numbers of customer complaints. These firms typically maintain loose hiring criteria and exhibit lenient compliance standards, specializing in exploiting inexperienced investors.

According to Dimmock et al. [2016], in a related investigation, financial fraud exhibits a contagious nature. Their findings indicate that a broker's likelihood of perpetrating financial fraud is strongly influenced by the propensity of their colleagues to commit fraud, independent of factors such as firm culture, branch atmosphere, market conditions, and state regulatory policies.

Calvin Todd Haltermans current employer, is one of the 30 highest risk brokerage firms measured by the percent of brokers at the firm who have customer complaints disclosed on their BrokerCheck reports. 20.47% of 's brokers have customer complaints compared to only 2.71% of all brokers who have complaints.

If you have questions about this post, about and/or Calvin Todd Halterman or about the management of your accounts, please contact SLCG for an initial consultation or email us at BrokerInquiry@SLCG.com.

SLCG Economic Consulting, LLC

For nearly 25 years, SLCG Economic Consulting, LLC ("SLCG") has provided consulting services to individuals, corporations and state and federal agencies mostly related to finance and economics. SLCG professionals include professionals with substantial academic and government experiences who conduct ongoing publishable research.

SLCG is a wholly owned subsidiary of McCann Yan Holdings, Inc., a Virginia incorporated company based in Northern Virginia.