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August 5, 2024

Old Lyme financial planner permanently barred from seeking certification

Contributed | https://pixabay.com/photos/usd-bills-dollars-money-cash-2874026/
By David Krechevsky

The founder and owner of a financial planning firm in Old Lyme has been permanently barred from seeking certification from a national standards board following disciplinary action taken by the state Department of Banking.

The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc. (CFP Board) announced Friday it has permanently barred Lawrence B. Kaplan, of Summit Investment Management LLC in Old Lyme, from applying for or obtaining CFP Board certification. 

The order, by the counsel to the CFP Board’s Disciplinary and Ethics Commission, was issued in June after the CFP Board learned that on Dec. 23, 2022, Kaplan had entered into a consent order with the state Banking Department following an investigation into claims of improper billing practices, and that he had failed to disclose the order to the CFP Board within 30 days.

According to the CFP Board’s administrative order, the state Banking Department requested client billing invoices as part of its investigation. Kaplan submitted “three client billing invoices that he represented had been sent to clients,” but later admitted they were not the actual email invoices.

Submitting false invoices to the state is a violation of the Connecticut Uniform Securities Act. 

Kaplan later submitted the actual invoices, and the state subsequently ruled that he had failed to maintain client billing invoices for the first quarter of 2021 for at least three clients. 

The state subsequently ordered Kaplan to cease and desist from future violations and to pay a $10,000 administrative fine. 

Kaplan, whom the CFP Board said had allowed his certification to lapse on Oct. 1, 2023, ceased to participate in the CFP Board’s investigation. He did not file a response to the CFP Board’s complaint, which he received on Dec. 19, 2023, putting him in default under the board’s procedural rules. 

“Based on a determination of the seriousness, scope and harmfulness of Mr. Kaplan’s conduct, enforcement counsel filed a motion for Order of Administrative Permanent Bar,” which was granted on June 10, 2024, the CFP Board said. The order took effect on July 10. 

Kaplan originally co-founded IDS Financial Services in Old Lyme in 1993. In May 2009, he founded Summit Investment Management LLC at 42 Pond Hill Road, in Old Lyme.

While his firm has the same name as a much larger financial management firm based in Denver, the two firms are not affiliated in any way.

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