The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards has enacted public sanctions for violations ranging from regulatory actions, customer complaints, arbitration actions, bankruptcies and tax liens against 22 current or former financial planner professionals, the board announced today.
The sanctions, effective immediately or on the date noted in each case, include public censures, suspensions, temporary bars, permanent bars and revocations of the right to use the CFP marks, the CFP Board said. Under the board's disciplinary code, permanent bars apply to planners who do not currently hold the CFP mark, while revocations apply to CFP holders.
Last year, the CFP board announced that it had strengthened its enforcement program and had planned to complete background checks on all its more than 87,000 professionals to detect potential misconduct that previously had not been reported to the CFP Board. So far, it said it has completed the background checks and opened “historical Investigations” into the conduct of 1,266 professionals. More than 80% of these latest sanctions are a result of the investigations, the board said.
Of the sanctioned individuals, five were censured, five were suspended, one was temporarily barred, four were barred and the rights of seven to use the CFP marks were revoked.
Among those whose right to use the CFP marks was revoked is Daniel Motherway of Marietta, Ga. The CFP Board said he failed to respond to a request related to an investigation into his 2015 resignation from Wells Fargo. Motherway allegedly sent client account information to his personal email address and exercised unauthorized discretion in the accounts, the board said. Also, the board said Motherway failed to respond for information it sought in the investigation of a 2020 suspension from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which arose from a 2017 termination from UBS Financial Services and a subsequent arbitration award for breach of a promissory note.
Arthur W. Rich of Aiken, S.C., had his right to use the CFP marks revoked for allegedly failing to disclose he had been the subject of a governmental agency inquiry on his 2018 renewal application. The CFP Board filed a complaint against Rich alleging that in November 2016, he entered into a consent order with state regulators in which it was agreed that between May 2016 and September 2016 he sold 47 title insurance policies with an expired insurance license. Rich paid a $4,700.00 fine to the state, the board said.