Goodman & Nekvasil P.A., May Recover Investor Losses – Gary Marlin Arford (Gary Arford) Permitted to Resign from Comprehensive Wealth Management, LLC, Fired by Independent Financial Group, LLC and Barred from Securities Industry
From 2001 until Gary Arford’s resignation in 2014, Gary Arford was licensed with Comprehensive Wealth Management, LLC. Garry Arford was also licensed with Geneos Wealth Management, Inc. and Independent Financial Group, LLC. According to FINRA’s records, Gary Arford resigned from Comprehensive Wealth Management, LLC on April 30, 2014. Comprehensive Wealth Management, LLC reported to FINRA that Gary Arford was accused of failing to report a customer complaint and attempting to directly settle with a customer in violation of firm policy.
According to FINRA’s records, Gary Arford was previously fired by Independent Financial Group, LLC on March 24, 2014. Independent Financial Group, LLC reported to FINRA that Gary Arford was accused of violating firm policy related to customer complaints.
Subsequent to Gary Arford’s firings, the SEC investigated Gary Arford and brought a disciplinary action against Gary Arford. Gary Arford was fined $150,000, penalized $21,256, disgorged for $4,226,684, and barred from the securities and investment banking industry by the SEC on October 28, 2014. The SEC found that Gary Arford acted as an investment adviser to a private fund (the “Fund”), providing advice primarily with respect to real estate-related investments. The SEC found that while serving in that role, Gary Arford defrauded the Fund and its investors in at least four ways. First, Gary Arford induced the Fund to commit a total of $4 million to an investment in a company that was purportedly planning to build and operate a hotel on undeveloped land in a Seattle suburb by misrepresenting and concealing material facts about the company’s debt and the encumbrances on its undeveloped property. Second, after obtaining the Fund’s investment commitment, Gary Arford took personal ownership of the company’s undeveloped property, and then pledged it as collateral for personal debts. Third, Gary Arford induced the Fund to continue fulfilling its investment commitment by concealing Gary Arford’s personal ownership and use of the company’s undeveloped property and by misrepresenting and hiding material facts about the use of Fund assets and the status of the project. Finally, the SEC found that Gary Arford misappropriated Fund assets for purposes unrelated to the Fund’s intended investment.
FINRA reports that twelve complaints and/or arbitration claims have been filed involving Gary Arford’s conduct with Comprehensive Wealth Management, LLC and/or Geneos Wealth Management, Inc., alleging misrepresentation, unsuitable investments, and/or other allegations. These complaints and/or arbitration claims all settled, with the largest settling for $450,000, $350,000, $275,000, $180,000, $158,296.57, and $112,500.
FINRA also reports that five complaints and/or arbitration claims involving Gary Arford’s conduct with Comprehensive Wealth Management, LLC and/or Geneos Wealth Management, Inc. are currently pending. These claims allege, among other things, unsuitable investments in oil and gas investments and/or penny stocks. The largest of these pending complaints and/or arbitration claim seek $340,548, $335,300, and $328,820.
If you lost any money on investments with Gary Arford, you may be able to recover your losses from Comprehensive Wealth Management, LLC, Geneos Wealth Management, Inc. and/or Independent Financial Group, LLC. This is because Comprehensive Wealth Management, LLC, Geneos Wealth Management, Inc. and Independent Financial Group, LLC. had a duty to supervise Gary Arford.
If you lost money on investments with Gary Arford, and believe the investments may have been unsuitable or otherwise improper for you, we would like to discuss the possibility of your retaining our firm to represent you in an arbitration action against Comprehensive Wealth Management, LLC, Geneos Wealth Management, Inc. and/or Independent Financial Group, LLC concerning Gary Arford’s conduct. There is no charge for an evaluation of your case. Further, we handle our cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that unless we recover money for you, we charge no attorney’s fee. Unless you recover any money, you pay us nothing, not even the costs and expenses which the firm will advance on your behalf.
Kalju Nekvasil, Esq., formerly regional counsel with the NASD, now known as FINRA, has practiced in this area of the law for more than 35 years. Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A. has recovered more than $300 million on behalf of victimized investors. If you lost money on investments with Gary Arford and would like your case evaluated by a securities attorney (again, there is no charge for an evaluation and all cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis), please contact us.
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