Financial advisor agrees to 2 and 1/2-year state suspension

Financial advisor agrees to 2 and 1/2-year state suspension

Lawyer Normal Kathy Jennings previous week declared a suspension and fines from a Wilmington-location fiscal adviser.

Robert Brandon Prettyman and the Investor Safety Device, a aspect of the Delaware Office of Justice that regulates the registration and perform of securities firms and specialists in the state, reached a joint settlement.

In accordance to the settlement, Prettyman, president of Summit Wealth Advisors, will spend $60,000 in costs and penalties, and serve a two-and-a-50 percent-yr suspension from registration in Delaware.

The Unit initiated the administrative issue in opposition to Prettyman in December 2021, alleging that, among other items, he had misrepresented in a sworn statement to the device the rationale a previous employer had terminated him.  In June 2022, on a movement for summary disposition on the pleadings, the presiding officer overseeing the matter located that Prettyman experienced built materially bogus and deceptive statements to the Device.

All around the same time, the Unit obtained supplemental facts that led it to open up a new investigation into whether or not Prettyman continued to provide advisory expert services while unregistered whether Prettyman’s suggestions to former advisory shoppers about annuities have been suited beneath the conditions irrespective of whether Prettyman’s try to shift shopper assets en masse was a breach of his fiduciary duties to individuals customers and no matter whether Prettyman obtained a Florida driver’s license in an try to steer clear of the need to have to sign up in Delaware.

In addition to securing the a lot more than two-yr suspension and fines, the efforts of the Trader Defense Unit allowed three Delaware investors to unwind their purchases of annuities. This authorized the investors to steer clear of collectively paying more than $100,000 in commissions, alongside with tens of thousands of pounds in surrender fees, involved with those transactions.

For enable checking the registration position of your fiscal experienced, or to file a complaint, remember to speak to the Investor Defense Unit at [email protected].

The Trader Security Device also advises buyers to check out the registration position of monetary pros at brokercheck.finra.org and adviserinfo.sec.gov. Simply click below for brokercheck’s results on Prettyman.

This issue was dealt with by Deputy Legal professional Typical Victor Clark and Exclusive Investigator Rob Joseph, both of the Trader Protection Unit in the Fraud and Purchaser Security Division of the Delaware Division of Justice.