LPL Financial has ended its affiliation with the registered broker and advisor who runs Cure and Associates in Nederland, Texas, after investigating allegations that she refused to hire Black applicants for an open position at her office, according to the firm.
"Following our process for review of advisor conduct, Ms. Cure is no longer a client of the firm," LPL said in a statement provided to ThinkAdvisor Wednesday evening.
LPL had said Tuesday it was "deeply concerned by the statements attributed to" Eileen Cure after videos posted on TikTok and shared across social media sites alleged she told her staff she didn't want to interview Black applicants for an open position at her office.
In a video, Denise Bradley, who goes by the name auntkaren0 on TikTok and has more than 1 million followers, branded Cure the "racist of the day" after somebody on Cure's staff forwarded Bradley an image of a statement allegedly made by Cure after interviewing a Black candidate for the position.
LPL has "seen the video alleging discriminatory comments by Ms. Cure," the firm said in its statement on Tuesday. "We immediately launched an internal investigation to review the matter and a decision is forthcoming this week regarding Ms. Cure's relationship with the firm. We will not tolerate discrimination of any kind in our LPL community."
Cure did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday about LPL's decision to end its relationship with her.
However, earlier on Tuesday, Cure emailed a comment to ThinkAdvisor about the controversy, saying: "The entirety of this situation is based upon a TikTok video published by an unrelated individual without press credentials or affiliations using an unauthenticated photo of an alleged internal office chat without validation or context of any content."
