FINRA suspended former First Liberties Financial broker David Paul Diehl and fined him $10,000 for engaging in outside business activities without disclosing them to his employing firm. The report states that Diehl's outside business activities involved the issuance of promissory notes for an outside business and its subsequent failure to meet the terms of the notes.
Investigators found that Diehl planned to open a series of St. Louis-area burger restaurants and name them after a local sports star who was also a client at First Liberties Financial. To raise capital, Diehl solicited $480,000 from multiple investors in exchange for interest-bearing promissory notes, including several who were his clients at the firm.
The investigation states that the restaurants did not succeed and two years later, they stopped paying interest on the promissory notes.
Diehl allegedly did not inform or otherwise obtain permission from First Liberties Financial for his outside business activity, in violation of FINRA and NASD rules, and since left the firm for Sunbelt Securities, Inc.
According to Diehl's BrokerCheck report and not one month after joining Sunbelt Securities, that firm permitted Diehl to resign after being notified of FINRA's investigation into unauthorized borrowing of funds from customers while registered with Workman Securities, Diehl's previous broker-dealer prior to his association with First Liberties Financial.
If you invested with David Paul Diehl or with any broker, financial adviser, firm or corporation whose failure to pay interest on promissory notes or any other obligation has proven harmful to your investments or interests, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for investigation and consultation.