A registered Florida broker and investment advisor and United Planners Financial Services of America, among others, face a proposed class action lawsuit alleging they engaged in a fraudulent scheme to solicit retirees and conservative clients to invest in "unsuitable, high-risk, illiquid alternative investments."
The plantiff, lawyer Matthew Kalman, says he suffered losses of about $2 million, "including principal erosion, opportunity costs, fees, tax liabilities, and penalties," and that other class members have suffered similar harms.
The defendants encouraged clients to invest in "speculative vehicles — driven by exorbitant commissions and undisclosed conflicts of interest, while prioritizing personal gain over fiduciary obligations," the lawsuit, filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New Jersey, alleges.
The complaint names as defendants Acadia Wealth Management President and CEO Aaron Sevigny, his firm, his late father-in-law's estate, his wife, and United Planners — his supervising broker-dealer — as well as 10 fictitious entities and others.
It contends United Planners failed to adequately supervise Sevigny's activities "despite numerous red flags, including industry warnings about high-risk alternative products (and) Sevigny’s history of customer disputes," as well as "United Planners’ own pattern of supervisory failures resulting in regulatory sanctions and multimillion-dollar restitutions."
The lawsuit, filed by Kalman's law firm for himself and other similarly situated investors, alleges federal securities fraud, civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations violations and related state law claims.
Sevigny, his wife and entities they controlled, including Acadia, "marketed themselves as trusted fiduciaries specializing in retirement planning. However, they routinely directed clients into speculative investments that were incompatible with conservative risk profiles, leading to catastrophic losses, tax liabilities, penalties, and illiquidity," the complaint states.
His late father-in-law "actively induced clients ... to engage Sevigny’s services through personal recommendations, knowing or recklessly disregarding the risks involved, thereby benefiting the family enterprise," the suit alleges. In a probate proceeding, Kalman filed a claim for damages exceeding $2 million against the father-in-law's estate, it says.
Among the investments Sevigny recommended, according to the suit, were private placements in GPB Capital Holdings, which was charged in 2021 by the Securities and Exchange Commission as a $1.8 billion Ponzi-like scheme.
(Days after GPB founder David Gentile started serving his seven-year prison term in connection with that scheme, President Trump commuted the sentence.)
"United Planners received specific notifications about GPB’s non-filing of financial statements in 2018 and 2019 but failed to inform or restrict Sevigny’s sales," the suit states.
Messages left with Acadia Wealth and United Planners received no immediate response Wednesday.
Three customer complaints filed against Sevigny in 2021 resulted in financial settlements, according to his BrokerCheck record. He has been registered with United Planners since 2006.
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