Securities Lawyers Blog
According to BrokerCheck records kept by The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) advisor Dean Grant (Grant), formerly associated with M Holdings Securities, Inc. (M Holdings), and operating under the d/b/a name Dean Grant Financial and GFG Strategic Advisors was arrested in February 2019 on charges of fraud. Grant’s company purportedly offers financial and estate planning, life insurance, retirement planning, charitable giving, disability and long-term care. In addition, Grant has three tax liens totaling approximately $150,000.
Grant purportedly turned himself in after an investigation by the Georgia Insurance Commissioner’s Office showed he used nearly $600,000 from at least three clients for his personal gain. Yet, Grant apparently did not obtain any insurance investments with the money. Grant was charged with three counts of insurance fraud, three counts of theft by taking, one count of forgery and two counts of trafficking of an elder person. Authorities claim that clients made checks made out to Dean Grant Financial and then he made checks made out to Dean Grant himself taking the money.
The providing of loans or selling of notes and other investments outside of a brokerage firm constitutes impermissible private securities transactions – a practice known in the industry as “selling away”.