An Anaheim, Calif., financial planner has permanently lost his right to use the Certified Financial Planner designation following a charge that he gave unsuitable advice to at least 50 clients, the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards announced Tuesday.
Charles Henry Frieda was charged by the board with overly concentrating his clients in energy sector securities, some of which were speculative and resulted in significant losses to the clients, and he failed to put his clients’ interests first.
The revocation of his right to use the CFP mark was imposed because Frieda failed to file an answer to the CFP Board’s complaint within the required time frame.
Frieda was one of 13 advisors whose right to use the CFP mark was permanently revoked by the board. These disciplinary actions were taken because the advisors did not answer the charges in time or failed to pay CFP Board hearing costs. The CFP Board complaint in most instances resulted from previous action by the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The revocations were effective in June, July and August but the infractions often date back several years.
The right of Walter A. Morales of Baton Rouge, La., was revoked after he misrepresented to his clients the value of certain collateralized debt obligation notes, created false internal valuation documents and received unreasonable compensation as a result of the misrepresented valuations.
Michael K. Young of Marlborough, Mass., lost his right to use the mark after he filed two bankruptcies and falsely stated on his CFP Board ethics disclosures that he had no prior bankruptcies.
The right of John Scott Elliott of Kansas City, Mo., was revoked after he failed to respond to requests for information from Finra, which resulted in a suspension by the authority in 2016 and a bar in 2017, and after he failed to provide services in compliance with his employer’s and the CFP Board’s ethics requirements.
Timothy J. McGee of Ocean City, N.J., lost his right to use the designation after he was convicted of federal criminal insider trading and perjury in 2012.
The right of Douglas S. Miller of Toledo, Ohio, was revoked after he failed to adequately disclose to clients that he was receiving “monitoring fees” from limited liability companies he was directing clients to invest in, among other charges.
Michael J. Zembala of Beachwood, Ohio, lost his right to use the mark after he arranged to have himself named as a co-owner and beneficiary of a client’s life insurance policy in 2010 without informing the client, failed to disclose to his client a general summary of likely conflicts of interest between the client and himself, and failed to comply with applicable regulatory requirements regarding outside business activities.