Our firm is investigating Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. broker Elizabeth Florence Ortiz (CRD# 6818113) of Austin, Texas, for potential options-related misconduct disclosed in a pending customer dispute.
Financial Advisor’s Career History
Elizabeth Florence Ortiz has been registered with Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. (CRD# 5393) since December 11, 2017, and is currently based out of a Schwab branch location in Austin, Texas. She is approved as a General Securities Representative and General Securities Sales Supervisor with FINRA and the Nasdaq Stock Market and is licensed in 51 U.S. states and territories through Schwab.
According to her BrokerCheck report, Ms. Ortiz’s investment-related employment history reflects:
- 06/2017 – Present: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., Registered Representative, Austin, TX
- Prior non-investment roles include management at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen and enrollment at Texas State University.
Her successful completion of the Securities Industry Essentials (SIE), Series 7, Series 63, and supervisory exams (Series 9 and 10) qualifies her to recommend and supervise a broad range of securities products.
Elizabeth Florence Ortiz Fraud Allegations and Investor Complaints Explained
Public records from FINRA BrokerCheck disclose one pending customer dispute involving Ms. Ortiz. As with all reported matters, these are allegations only, not findings of liability.
Pending Customer Dispute – Alleged Options Frontrunning
- Type: Customer Dispute – Pending (civil litigation)
- Reporting Source: Broker
- Employing Firm at Issue: Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
- Allegations:
A former Schwab associate alleges that Ms. Ortiz engaged in frontrunning in connection with options transactions in his account. - Product Type: Options
- Alleged Damages: Firm estimates alleged compensatory damages to be more than $5,000 (no exact dollar amount specified).
- Date Notice/Process Served: September 11, 2025
- Court Information: Litigation pending in the Northern District Court of Texas, Dallas, Texas; Docket No. 3-25-cv-02436-B-BN.
- Status: Pending; no adjudication, settlement, or findings of wrongdoing reported as of the most recent BrokerCheck update.
Key Disclosure Summary (Bullet Points)
- Pending customer dispute alleging Ms. Ortiz engaged in frontrunning in a former Schwab associate’s options account.
- Alleged damages estimated by the firm to exceed $5,000.
- Civil action filed in the Northern District Court of Texas (Dallas), Docket No. 3-25-cv-02436-B-BN.
- No finalized award, judgment, or settlement reported; allegations remain unproven and are contested.
Investors should understand that FINRA BrokerCheck may include pending allegations that could ultimately be withdrawn, dismissed, or resolved without any finding of misconduct.
Based on the current FINRA BrokerCheck disclosures, Elizabeth Florence Ortiz is a Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. broker with one pending customer dispute alleging options-related frontrunning in a former Schwab associate’s account, with estimated damages exceeding $5,000 and litigation ongoing in Texas. Investors who worked with Ms. Ortiz—particularly in options or other complex, actively traded products—may wish to review their account activity for potential irregularities, including trading ahead of customer orders or other conflicts of interest.
To obtain a copy of Elizabeth Florence Ortiz’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, visit this link.
Robert Wayne Pearce Is Committed to Recovering Your Investment Losses
Guidance on FINRA Rule Standards
For investors seeking to understand how alleged frontrunning and similar conduct may breach industry obligations, our discussion of FINRA Rule 2010 explains the broad “high standards of commercial honor and just and equitable principles of trade” that apply to all brokerage activity. Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A
FINRA Rule 2010 (Standards of Commercial Honor and Just and Equitable Principles of Trade) requires brokers and associated persons to maintain the highest ethical standards in all securities-related conduct. Trading ahead of a customer, exploiting advance knowledge of a customer’s options transactions, or otherwise placing a broker’s interests over the customer’s can be viewed as inconsistent with just and equitable principles of trade. In the pending allegations concerning Ms. Ortiz, any proven pattern of frontrunning a customer’s options orders or misusing confidential customer information could constitute a Rule 2010 violation by reflecting unethical conduct and undermining market integrity.
FINRA Rule 5270 (Front Running of Block Transactions) and related guidance prohibit firms and associated persons from trading for their own benefit or the benefit of others while in possession of material, non-public information about a customer block order, if such trading could disadvantage the customer. While the reported complaint involves a former Schwab associate’s options account rather than a classic institutional block order scenario, allegations that a registered representative used advance knowledge of a customer’s trading intentions to trade ahead—or structure options transactions to the customer’s detriment—raise the same core concerns addressed by Rule 5270: misuse of confidential order information and placing broker interests ahead of the customer’s.
FINRA Rule 5320 (Prohibition Against Trading Ahead of Customer Orders) generally prohibits a broker-dealer or its associated persons from trading for their own account ahead of a customer’s order in the same security without providing the customer with the required protections or executing the customer’s order on at least as favorable terms. In the context of the pending options frontrunning allegations, any pattern where a representative allegedly executed options or related trades for themselves or for favored accounts while aware of, but prior to executing, a customer’s orders could implicate Rule 5320, along with supervisory obligations imposed on the firm to detect and prevent such trading-ahead activity. If proven, such conduct could also be actionable before FINRA arbitrators.
Losing your savings to a dishonest broker or advisor can be devastating, but you do not have to face it alone. Robert Wayne Pearce and his team have spent over four decades helping investors who were misled or defrauded by Wall Street firms. The Law Offices of Robert Wayne Pearce, P.A. takes cases nationwide on a contingency fee basis. You pay nothing unless we recover your losses. Call (800) 732-2889 or email pearce@rwpearce.com today for a free and confidential consultation.