On July, 21 the SEC found that CONCERT and two of its principals, Felipe Luna and Dennis Navarro, had overstated the firm’s AUM and profits to a group of investors in order to raise money in a private placement. The PPM raised $1.2 million. Luna was censured and paid a $60,000 fine for his part in the offering.
CONCERT Wealth Advisors and its parent, CONCERT Global agreed to pay a $120,000 penalty without admitting or denying the findings.
As this article went to press, the the homepage of the firm’s website includes a summary of the charges by the SEC, the settlement the firm reached with the SEC, and concluded with: “The Order did not find an intent to deceive. And the Order found that CW, CG and Luna took prompt remedial steps including sending corrective disclosures to investors, and hiring a compliance consultant to upgrade its procedures.”
In our previous article, published on Aug. 4, we reported allegations that Luna falsely claimed to have been a Navy SEAL in his dealings with clients. Luna denied that allegation.
CONCERT Wealth Management has $2 billion of assets under management according to its updated ADV, which was updated July 28.
Big custodians spend millions each year transitioning brokers from wirehouses and generally competing to acquire assets under management, so it raises eyebrows that two custodians are asking a firm with $2 billion AUM to find a new place to park their managed assets.
Neither TD or Fidelity would confirm or deny reports that they are giving CONCERT its walking papers.
On the record, Jersey City, N.J.-based TD Ameritrade spokesman Joseph Giannone says, “It’s our policy not to comment on our relationships with individual advisors on our platform.” Boston-based Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions spokeswoman Jessica Macdonald says, “Fidelity regularly monitors the firms that custody on our platform.” And San Francisco-based Schwab Advisor Services, another CONCERT custodian, says that it “monitors a number of events and activities, including monitoring on a transaction basis, monitoring certain transactions at the account level, and monitoring information/news related to business dealings,” according to spokeswoman Alison Wertheim.