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Regulation and Compliance > Litigation

Stifel Named in Civil Case Against Advisor Charged With Strangling Girlfriend

By Jeff Berman

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The ex-girlfriend and client of a Stifel advisor is suing the broker-dealer, saying the advisor strangled her in a drunken rage after years of repeated physical and emotional abuse. 

Stifel failed to warn her of his history of abuse even as it permitted her to help him solicit clients at the firm’s expense, the plaintiff, Christine Lenzo, alleged, saying the firm breached its duty of care to her as both a client and an “employee-in-fact.”

According to the complaint, filed Oct. 10 in the Supreme Court of the State of New York in Manhattan, Lenzo (aka Krysia Lenzo) met Andrew Baker Woolworth Jr. through the online dating app Bumble around November 2020. They started a romantic relationship and moved in together that month, according to the complaint.

Lenzo became a Stifel client and opened personal accounts with the firm, where Woolworth became her money manager, the complaint says.

In 2021 and 2022, Lenzo worked to solicit clients on behalf of Woolworth and Stifel at their request, meeting with prospects at social events and receiving compensation for travel and other expenses, according to the complaint.

Upon information and belief, Lenzo’s complaint states, Stifel was aware of a protective order obtained against Woolworth in May 2018 by his then wife, who said he assaulted and battered her. Woolworth underwent drug and alcohol testing at the company’s behest, the complaint said.

“Shortly after Plaintiff began a romantic relationship” with Woolworth, she “repeatedly fell ill and experienced sedative effects during and after nights out” with the defendant, according to the complaint. One such event occurred in New York City on Nov. 12, 2020, when she went out on a date with Woolworth and she “became physically ill and fainted,” the complaint states.

In December 2021, Woolworth, “while intoxicated, strangled Plaintiff after she complained of his repeated drunkenness,” the complaint says.

Then, on May 26, 2022, while they were living together in Greenwich, Connecticut, Lenzo observed him “return to their apartment after an afternoon of excessive drinking and recreational drug use with friends,” the complaint alleges.

At the same time, the plaintiff observed Woolworth was “very inebriated, as evidenced by his candid admission of the same and slurred speech,” the complaint says. She expressed concern to Woolworth about “his level of intoxication and insisted that this behavior, which was recurring, was unacceptable and would have to stop if their relationship was to continue.” 

At that point, the complaint alleges, Woolworth “flew into a rage, came up to [her] face,” and insulted her. “In his rage, [he] then physically assaulted and battered” Lenzo and smashed her cellphone, according to the complaint. Woolworth also “charged at Plaintiff, pinned her against the door, and proceeded to strangle her,” the complaint says.

Lenzo called the police on a neighbor’s phone, the complaint says. 

Woolworth was charged with strangulation in the second degree, a Class D felony in New York, according to his Financial Industry Regulatory Authority BrokerCheck profile. 

Lenzo is demanding judgment against Woolworth, Stifel Financial Corp. and Stifel Nicolaus & Co. Inc., including compensatory and punitive damages. Causes of action cited in the complaint are civil assault and battery against Woolworth, intentional and negligent infliction of emotional duress by Woolworth, negligence against the Stifel defendants and negligent supervision and retention by the Stifel defendants.

Stifel and Woolworth didn’t respond to ThinkAdvisor’s requests for comment. Woolworth’s next court date is May 16, 2024, and he expects the charge to be dismissed, he said in a comment on his BrokerCheck profile.

Woolworth is still registered at Stifel, where he has been a broker since 2012, according to his BrokerCheck profile.

He served as a broker for Morgan Stanley and, in 2012, joined Stifel, where he served as a broker and advisor.

According to an Oct. 4, 2012, disclosure on his report, Morgan Stanley discharged him over “concerns resulting from employee’s marking of transactions in his personal securities account as ‘unsolicited’ and his introduction of a private placement not offered by the firm.”

Jeff Berman

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