The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. has revoked the right of four advisors to use the CFP designation after each was charged with a variety of complaints including fraud and breaching his fiduciary duty to clients.
All four lost the right to call themselves CFPs after failing to answer the board in a timely manner about the charges, CFP Board said. The revocations are part of a series of disciplinary actions announced Tuesday.
Ash Narayan of Irvine, Calif., is charged in the CFP Board complaint with selling clients an unsuitable private placement and fraudulently transferring clients’ money to a private placement. He also, according to the complaint, failed to disclose material information about his position on the board of directors for the private placement and his ownership interest in the private placement.
Michael J. DeBoer of Spring Hill, Fla., was stripped of his right to use the designation after he agreed to be barred from the industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for engaging in private securities transactions without providing prior written notice to his firm and for recommending securities without first doing reasonable due diligence to confirm that the investments were suitable for his customers.
Randy L. Alford of Conway, S.C., also lost the right to use the designation for failing to provide information required by Finra and the CFP Board.
Jason A. Schall of Charleston, S.C., according to a CFP Board complaint, engaged in unauthorized trades, misrepresentation fraud and breach of fiduciary duty with respect to a client. He also twice represented to the CFP Board that he had not been a defendant or respondent in a civil action or arbitration, and he obstructed CFP Board staff in the performance of its duties.
Six other advisors have had their right to use the CFP designation suspended for various amounts of time.
Bruce M. Weinstein of Boca Raton, Fla., was suspended for four years for filing for bankruptcy to avoid paying a Finra arbitration award and for filing false expense reports.
Thomas E. Connors of Toms River, N.J., was suspended for two years for charging 47 advisory clients a “onetime setup fee” when they opened their accounts, despite being informed by his supervisor that he could not charge such fees. Second, he charged 32 clients for his services in preparing their tax returns and received payment directly from clients. Third, he received commissions for selling insurance products directly from outside insurance carriers.
Peter G. Neuberg of Chester, N.J., was suspended for three months for failing to supervise his assistant.