Stefanie M. Wayco

Stefanie is a Shareholder in Maynard Nexsen’s Securities and Financial Services practice group. She focuses her practice on representing financial services firms, broker-dealers, investment advisors, clearing firms, and securities industry professionals in regulatory and enforcement matters, civil litigation, arbitrations, and internal investigations. She has experience handling mass actions, product cases, alternative investments, Anti-Money Laundering, Bank Secrecy Act, outside business activities, privilege issues, compliance policies, supervisory policies, and standard operating procedures for financial services firms. In the enforcement arena, Stephanie works with and litigates against securities industry regulators, including the SEC, FINRA, and state regulators, among others.

Stefanie is active in the financial and legal industries serving on the Advisory Board and as Secretary of Southeastern Women in Financial Services (SWIFS), an organization comprised of women lawyers practicing in the financial services industry. She also serves as the New York Regional Committee Chair for the Georgia Tech President’s Scholarship Program and Scholarship Chair of the NY/NJ Georgia Tech Alumni Association. Stefanie has served the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research for over ten years as a volunteer and team leader. She also founded and currently serves as Chair of the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research Atlanta Walk.

Community & Professional

• Southeastern Women in Financial Services (SWIFS) - Advisory Board Member and Secretary, 2018-Present, Planning Committee Member, 2017-2018
• Member, National Society of Compliance Professionals (NSCP), 2010-2017
• New York Regional Committee Chair, Georgia Tech President’s Scholarship Program, 2013-Present
• Co-Chair, New York/New Jersey Scholarship Committee, 2013-Present
• Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, 2011-Present - Chair, Lustgarten Pancreatic Cancer Atlanta Walk, 2017-2020, Leadership Summit, July 11-12, 2017 (New York), Team Leader & Volunteer, NYC Pancreatic Cancer Research Walk, 2011-2017
• Mentor, University of Georgia School of Law Students

• Defense of financial services firm in multiple claimant complex litigation
• Defense of financial services firm in employment litigation involving deferred bonus (directed verdict)
• Defense of financial services firm in FINRA investigations related to anti-money laundering
• Representation of financial services firms in FINRA investigations and on-the-record testimony related to misappropriation of funds from senior clients
• Defense of financial services firm in federal court related to creation of fraudulent accounts and embezzlement of funds
• Represent broker-dealer and registered representative in FINRA arbitration where supervision and supervisory policies were at issue related to suspected undue influence of an elderly customer (panel denied all claims)
• Lead counsel defending broker-dealer and registered representative in FINRA arbitration related to suitability of options trading (all claims denied, expungement granted); and suitability of mutual fund investment (all claims denied, expungement granted)
• Represented numerous broker-dealers and registered representatives in FINRA arbitration hearings, involving unauthorized trading, structured products and numerous alternative investment product cases
• Represented numerous individual registered representatives in expungement proceedings in FINRA arbitrations and related state court proceedings

Recognition

• Selected, Georgia Trend, "Legal Elite – Business Law," 2019
• Selected, Super Lawyers, Georgia Super Lawyers "Rising Star," 2019
• Selected, Super Lawyers, Georgia Super Lawyers "Rising Star," 2018
• Team Member, The American Lawyer's "Regional Litigation Department of the Year - Georgia," 2018