New Records Show David Flippo’s Firing as a Financial Adviser Was More Serious Than He Let On

Mother Jones illustration; Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Get your news from a source that’s not owned and controlled by oligarchs. Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily. David Flippo says his firing as a financial adviser two years ago was no big deal. “They did an investigation, not just the company, but FINRA, a federal investigation, they looked at all my transactions and everything,” Flippo, the GOP nominee in Nevada’s 2nd congressional district, argued in May. “They found nothing to discipline me for.” Rory McShane, his main campaign consultant, has been even more dismissive, claiming that “brokers and brokerages part ways all the time.” Previously unreported documents obtained through public records requests provide new detail on Flippo’s 2024 firing by First Command, a company that largely serves military families and veterans. They show that Flippo was accused of making “willful misrepresentations and/or omissions of material fact to establish a client relationship using securities that First Command typically does not accept.” The company then conducted a surprise office visit, determined that he “violated numerous company policies,” and quickly fired him. Flippo has also not provided evidence that the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority investigated him, let alone that an investigation concluded in his favor. Benjamin Edwards, who teaches securities law at the William S. Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, also noted that FINRA is “not understood to be part of the federal government.” Indeed, FINRA is a nonprofit self-regulatory organization that Edwards said supervises financial brokers and dealers under the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission. (Edwards made clear that he was speaking in a personal capacity.) “It was determined that the rep violated numerous company policies and as a result, Compliance recommended that the rep should no longer be associated with the firm.” The new information comes as Flippo finds himself in an unexpectedly close race in a northern Nevada district that Donald Trump carried by 14 points in 2024. The Nevada Republican has already faced heavy criticism for false claims made by his campaign about his military service and for a years-long failure to file a legally required financial disclosure. Flippo’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment about the records concerning his firing. McShane did not respond to a question about whether he stands by his characterization of Flippo’s termination. The records were obtained from requests submitted in Alabama and Virginia. They contain information from FINRA’s Central Registration Depository that is provided to state-level securities regulators. The new information about his firing is marked not publicly disclosable, meaning it does not appear on Flippo’s page on BrokerCheck—a free, online tool maintained by FINRA that provides information about brokers and investment advisers. Flippo’s claims about his firing were already at odds with the more limited information on BrokerCheck, which states that he was fired as a result of allegations that he violated “numerous company policies and regulatory regulations.” The new records help fill in the picture of what happened. They reveal that Flippo’s alleged misconduct led to First Command’s Compliance Department opening an internal review on November 12, 2024. One day later, First Command conducted an “unannounced branch visit” to interview Flippo, according to the documents. From there, “It was determined that the rep violated numerous company policies and as a result, Compliance recommended that the rep should no longer be associated with the firm.” Five days after the surprise visit, the investigation concluded. About one week later, First Command fired Flippo, the records state. Flippo’s online BrokerCheck page states that “No client harm was involved” in connection with the alleged misconduct. An excerpt of the records obtained through public records requests related to Flippo being fired in 2024.Mother Jones After reviewing the documents related to Flippo’s firing, Edwards noted that a Central Registration Depository “record containing factual allegations that a broker made material misstatements or omissions when speaking to an investor gives rise to integrity concerns as to whether you can rely on what the broker tells you.” Flippo’s BrokerCheck page specifies that he was fired in relation to “Bearer Bonds,” a largely obsolete financial instrument that became known for its use in money laundering and other illicit activity. Those bonds may be the securities First Command “typically does not accept” that were brought to the Compliance Department’s attention shortly before Flippo’s termination. (Flippo has not responded to repeated inquiries about how he may have interacted with bearer bonds.) The public account of Flippo’s firing that is available on BrokerCheck. Mother Jones Flippo’s campaign has weathered multiple controversies. He was accused of stolen valor after his campaign falsely stated that he earned a Bronze Star with valor while serving as an Air Force officer in Iraq, when he actually has a standard Bronze Star. The Reno Gazette-Journal has also reported that Flippo was fired from his role as an Air Force squadron commander in 2008. When it comes to his finances, Flippo has failed to file legally required financial disclosures dating back to 2023, when he first ran for Congress. Those disclosures would help to explain how he has reported putting more than $2.5 million of his own money into his past two congressional campaigns, despite having no obvious source of such wealth. The closest Flippo has come to officially disclosing his assets was providing an unofficial, handwritten, and unsigned personal financial disclosure form to The Nevada Independent last month. According to that document, his largest known asset, valued at between $1 and $5 million, is a dubious land venture called Arizona Land Reserve that touts the possibility of “constant” 20 percent returns for 20 years. My reporting has shown that the company, which was co-founded by a man who has been accused of fraud on multiple occasions during prior business dealings, spent heavily in support of Flippo. The Nevada Republican, meanwhile, appears to have lent the venture an air of legitimacy by attending company events and investor meetings. Experts I spoke to have called the company’s development plan “batshit” and say its mention of “constant” 20 percent returns is a “huge red flag.” Mark Amodei, the retiring Republican congressman whom Flippo is running to replace, has repeatedly called Flippo a “fraud” in response to the accusations of stolen valor and the mysteries surrounding the candidate’s finances—including in an interview with me last week. Coincidentally or not, Flippo’s firing from First Command came as his family became financially intertwined with Robert McDowell, the Arizona Land Reserve co-founder with a history of bad debts and fraud accusations. The information about Flippo’s firing was submitted to FINRA on December 10, 2024, according to the records I obtained. Six days later, Flippo’s older brother Stephen Flippo was named as the lender on a more than $200,000 note to Lost Basin Holdings, one of McDowell’s other companies, according to Mohave County, Arizona, records. (Stephen Flippo and McDowell have not responded to multiple requests for comment.) In January 2025, McDowell officially co-founded Arizona Land Reserve, according to Arizona corporate records. Later that month, Stephen Flippo was named as the lender on a new $136,000 note to Lost Basin. The loan came as McDowell was apparently experiencing a cash crunch and seeking to pay back an overdue debt to a prior lender with money from new investors, according to text messages McDowell sent at the time. In March 2025, David Flippo got a new job as a financial adviser working for an affiliate of the wealth management firm LPL Financial. During a Monday interview at his Nevada home, Amodei reviewed the new records related to Flippo’s firing. The problem, he noted, is that Flippo was let go from a regulated fiduciary position—not whether the alleged infractions were serious enough to merit additional investigative resources. “It’s like, Well, I didn’t get fined,” the congressman said, paraphrasing Flippo’s remarks on the firing. “Well, congratulations on that? How come they let you go?”