When Rico meets Sonny at the bar and sits down, he rests his empty hands on the bar. But when the shot changes, Rico is fiddling with a napkin in his two hands.
The police cannot "waive" a license (registration) to be a financial advisor.
Izzy does not need a "license" to provide financial advice, but he does need one (called a "registration" or "being registered") in order to actually solicit or place orders (in Florida at the time the episode aired, he has to have passed a SEC series 6 or 7 exam, plus a series 3 in order to trade in foreign currency). "Financial planner" is a sufficiently vague title that Izzy could have claimed he was only providing advice, but requesting applications from the group may mean that he was planning to take their money to trade.
Valerie, a decorated police officer, went for a walk leaving her gun (and, incidentally, her purse, where she kept it) unsecured with a traumatized young girl.