Louis Kittlaus Allegedly Recommends Unsuitable Private Placements

The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of former securities broker Louis Kittlaus. According to his publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report, Louis Kittlaus has been the subject of multiple customer disputes.

Louis Kittlaus was an Illinois based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for forty-four years. During his career, he was registered with nineteen different securities firms. He is not currently working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.

His Registrations

• McCormick & Co. (1969-1974)


• ENI Corporation (1974)


• First Columbia Corporation (1974)


• Moseley, Hallgarten & Estabrook (1974-1976)


• Institutional Financial Services (1979-1980)


• Individuals' Financial Services (1975-1984)


• Kittlaus Company (1983-1989)


• Fox & Henry (1990-1991)


• Daly Investment Co. (1991)


• Birkelbach Investment Securities (1991-1992)


• WFG Securities Corporation (1993)


• Oak Brook Securities (1993-1995)


• Cousins Securities Corporation (1995-1997)


• Strategic Assets Inc. (1997-1999)


• Pavek Investments Inc. (1999-2005)


• Steven L. Falk & Associates (2004-2006)


• Alliance Affiliated Equities Corporation (2006-2008)


• Edwin C. Blitz Investments (2009-2012)


• Wall Street Strategies (2012-2016)

The Allegations

• In November 2014, a customer alleged that products Louis Kittlaus had selected for investments were unsuitable based on their age, investment objectives, and risk tolerance. This case is currently pending. The customer is seeking $700,000 in damages.


• In May 2015, a customer alleged that Louis Kittlaus made misleading statements, breached his fiduciary duty, made negligent misrepresentations, handled their account negligently, breached contract, breached the covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and engaged in elder abuse. This case went to arbitration, where the customer was awarded an undisclosed amount in damages.


• In June 2015, customers alleged that the investments Louis Kittlaus had placed them in were unsuitable based on their age, investment objectives, and risk factors. This case is currently pending. The customers are seeking $100,000 in damages.


• In December 2015, a customer alleged that Louis Kittlaus recommended that they invest in unsuitable private placements. They also alleged that Kittlaus failed to conduct adequate due diligence and misrepresented the private placements to them. This case was settled for $76,000 in damages.

What Does This Mean?

Securities brokers have an obligation to their customers to always act in their best financial interests. The main part of this means only recommending securities that they are financially suited for based on their investment objectives, risk tolerance, age, annual income, financial situation and more. Brokers are required to determine suitability by looking at these factors and cannot excuse themselves when things go awry by claiming they were unaware of an investment's unsuitability. Many brokers place customers in unsuitable investments due to their own negligence and inability to perform the required due diligence necessary to determine suitability. However, there are some brokers that ignore their duty and will place their customers in highly unsuitable privately traded investments that they know they are not suited for. This is often done due to conflicts of interests that are created when brokers engage in private securities transactions that motivate the brokers to recommend such unsuitable investments.

Oakes & Fosher Can Help

Many investors are unaware of the legal recourse available to them after losing money due to securities broker fraud and/or negligence. The truth is that investors who have lost money in this fashion may actually be entitled to damages.

Oakes & Fosher dedicates its entire legal practice to helping investors across the nation. If you, or someone you know, have lost money investing with Louis Kittlaus, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation.