A financial advisor is under investigation by her company after she allegedly told her team she did not want to interview black job applications for an open position in her office, according to videos posted on TikTok.
Denise Bradley, who goes by @auntkaren0 on TikTok, and has more than 1 million followers on the platform, posted a video last week claiming Eileen Cure, a registered broker and advisor at LPL Financial and affiliate Cure and Associates in Nederland, Texas, refused to hire black candidates for a CPA vacancy in the company.
'I Specifically Said No Blacks'
In the video posted on July 27, Bradley branded Cure the "racist of the day" and shared a screenshot of a Skype conversation that was apparently sent to her by one of Cure's employees. The image appears to show Cure allegedly reprimanded the team for setting up an interview with a black individual.
"I wanted to tell you i specifically said no blacks," the message read, "I'm not a prejudice person, but our clients are 90% white and i need to cater to them...so that interview was a complete waste of my time...so please don't second guess me or go against what i ask...listen to me and give me what i ask for please."
In a follow-up video, Bradley provided an update by sharing additional screenshots of text messages allegedly sent out by Cure, claiming several employees had resigned from the company in the wake of the racist controversy.
"If you decide to resign as Sara, Logan and Nolan have, I will not give you a good reference and I will not sign off on any internships or CPA hours," the alleged text message read, noting that the said staff members were removed from the company's website.
'We Do Not Tolerate Discrimination of Any Kind'
In the wake of the racism controversy, LPL financial said in a statement obtained by ThinkAdvisor that it was"deeply concerned by the statements attributed to" a registered representative of the firm.
LPL has "seen the video alleging discriminatory comments by Ms. Cure," the firm said in its statement. "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 has been registered with the company since 2018.
Cure Denies Allegations
In a statement obtained by the Daily Dot, Cure said the racist chat message is "unauthenticated" and that Bradley's TikToks are "false and defamatory." "I have taken steps to confirm that race never has and will not be a factor in hiring decisions at my firm," she added.
