Fidelity Seeks More Time to Answer Whistleblower Suit

Fidelity Investments has sought a 30-day extension to respond to a financial advisor’s lawsuit alleging the company fired him in retaliation for his whistleblowing over practices intended to prioritize firm profits over customer finances.

The case involves the investment giant’s “repeated breaches of its fiduciary obligation” to act in investors’ best interests and what happened when the advisor, Michael Maeker, reported his manager’s unethical busiess practices, Maeker alleges in a lawsuit filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.

Fidelity filed a motion Friday asking the court to grant it an extension to July 5 to answer the complaint, to provide the company and its lawyers more time to further assess the suit and formulate an appropriate response.

Maeker alleges Fidelity violated securities laws and the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Regulation Best Interest, which governs broker-dealer conduct, by pressuring him and other advisors to place client assets in investments that paid Fidelity more “even if that was not in the client’s best interest.”