He wasn't giving advice as a registered financial advisor though. I don't think anybody even knew he was one until WSJ published a piece on him. How does this hold up in courts?
Surprised they went for the courts instead of arbitration. Securities arbitration is notoriously biased towards the client. And even an allegation makes it onto the individual’s permanent regulatory record.
Smells like a PR stunt.
Broadly speaking, I believe so. But FINRA arbitration is odd. I wouldn't be surprised if this individual could claim he thought DeepFuckingValue was giving him advice over Reddit to gain standing. From there, it's in the system.