The Hidden Threat Of Investor Attorneys

As a financial advisor, your reputation is your most valuable asset. It’s what attracts clients, builds trust, and sustains your career. But what happens when a meritless customer dispute disclosure on your BrokerCheck or Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) record becomes a weapon in the hands of the plaintiff’s attorneys? At AdvisorLaw, we’ve seen firsthand how these attorneys exploit public disclosures to create targeted blogs and websites — often dubbed “fraud websites” — designed to tarnish your name and drive more complaints against you. 

Go ahead, Google [your name + financial advisor], and see what comes up.

If you’re one of the unlucky advisors who has old customer complaints, it’s a good bet that those old allegations have spawned even more troubling web pages than BrokerCheck. Not only does this predatory practice threaten your livelihood — it also misleads the public. Here’s why expungement, not SEO suppression, is the only effective solution to protect your reputation.

The Predatory Practices Of Investor Attorneys

Attorneys who make a business out of drumming up new complaints against advisors routinely scrape customer dispute disclosures from FINRA’s BrokerCheck and the SEC’s IAPD databases. These disclosures, even when baseless or settled without admission of fault, are publicly accessible and often paint an incomplete picture. These attorneys then create blogs or websites that highlight these complaints, using inflammatory language to portray advisors as untrustworthy or fraudulent. Their goal? To rank high in search-engine results when someone Googles your name, in hopes of attracting more clients to file additional complaints — often frivolous ones — in pursuit of quick “nuisance settlements.”

This practice isn’t about justice. It’s about profit. As we’ve noted before, eight out of ten new client disputes result in firms settling to avoid litigation costs, leaving advisors with a new disclosure on their Form U4, CRD, BrokerCheck, and IAPD records. These settlements embolden attorneys to continue this cycle, knowing that the cost of litigation often outweighs the cost of a nominal payout. Meanwhile, your name is dragged through the mud on websites that linger in search results, scaring away potential clients, employers, and anyone doing their due diligence on you.

Why SEO Suppression Falls Short

Many advisors, concerned about these “fraud websites” appearing at the top of search results, turn to SEO (search engine optimization) strategies to push them down. The idea is to flood the internet with positive content — new websites, press releases, or social media profiles — to bury the negative sites on page two or beyond. While this might seem like a quick fix, it’s a flawed approach for several reasons.

1. Temporary Results: SEO is a constant battle. Investor attorneys often have dedicated resources to maintain their sites’ rankings, using tactics like backlinking and keyword optimization. Even if you push their site down temporarily, it can resurface with a single algorithm update or a new blog post.
2. Lack of Control: You can’t control what others publish about you. These websites often republish negative disclosure information directly from BrokerCheck, which they’re legally allowed to do. Suppressing them doesn’t remove the root cause, which is the disclosure itself.
3. Client Perception: Even if you bury the site, savvy clients or employers will dig deeper. A single negative result, even on page three, can raise doubts. In an industry built on trust, any hint of impropriety can be a dealbreaker.
4. Cost & Effort: SEO campaigns are expensive and ongoing. The money spent on consultants, content creation, and link-building could be better invested in a permanent solution: expungement.

AdvisorLaw has seen advisors spend thousands on SEO, only to find their names still tied to damaging websites. The real problem isn’t the search ranking — it’s the disclosure that fuels the content in the first place.

The Power Of Expungement: A Permanent Solution

Expungement is the process of removing meritless disclosures from your BrokerCheck, CRD, IARD, and IAPD records through FINRA arbitration or alternative dispute resolution forums, like AAA and JAMS. Unlike SEO, expungement addresses the root cause by erasing the disclosure. Here’s why expungement is the best defense:

• Reputation Restoration: Once a disclosure is expunged, it’s as though it never happened. FINRA removes it from your public record, and investor attorneys lose the ammunition that they need to create or justify their blogs. Without the disclosure, these “fraud websites” become baseless, and any reference to expunged allegations can be considered defamatory.
• Career Protection: A clean record makes you more attractive to potential employers and clients. As we’ve highlighted on our website, transitioning to a new firm with even a single U5 termination disclosure is increasingly difficult, and compensation for transitioning advisors is often scaled back due to such marks. Expungement removes these barriers.
• Ends the Cycle of Complaints: By removing the disclosure, you break the cycle on which investor attorneys rely. Without a public record to point to, their ability to solicit new complaints diminishes, protecting you from future frivolous claims.
• Proven Results: AdvisorLaw has expunged over 2,800 disclosures for advisors nationwide, including customer disputes, termination disclosures, and even criminal disclosures. You can verify all of our recent successes listed in FINRA’s arbitration awards here. These advisors regained control of their narratives — and you can, too.

Act Now: Time Is Running Out

The urgency to act cannot be overstated. FINRA’s rule change in 2023 was finalized on October 16th, 2025. FINRA will prohibit the expungement of certain settled customer complaints (over two years old) from your BrokerCheck record — for good. If you have such disclosures, you must act before this deadline to preserve your right to a clean record. 

AdvisorLaw’s Defense division specializes in navigating these complex regulatory changes. Our experienced attorneys have a proven track record of securing expungements through FINRA’s Dispute Resolution forum and alternative channels, ensuring that your personal and professional reputation is accurately depicted to the public and industry observers.

Take Control Of Your Narrative

Don’t let investor attorneys and their “fraud websites” define your career. SEO suppression might push down negative content temporarily, but it’s a Band-Aid on a deeper wound. Expungement is the only way to remove the source of the problem — your disclosure — and reclaim your reputation for good. 

Contact AdvisorLaw today for a priority consultation at no charge. Your professional future is worth defending. Let us help you fight back.