Over 20 years since Harold Francis "Harry" Couglar, most recently of Montage Securities in San Diego, allegedly effected his first securities transaction at an account held at a broker-dealer other than the one he was registered with, FINRA barred Couglar for failing to disclose the outside securities accounts and transactions conducted at firms he was not registered with, and for failing to disclose outside business activities.
The findings state that from May 1996 through October 2003, and again from June 2005 through December 2016, Couglar purchased and sold securities in 87 accounts at outside broker-dealers where he held discretionary authority without notifying his employing firms of these accounts nor the firms where the outside accounts were held of his association with the firms at which he was registered.
FINRA found that Couglar received $102,956 in compensation from the account owners and effected more than 2,800 trades totaling more than $30 million in executed transactions, all while falsely stating on compliance questionnaires that he did not have discretionary authority over any non-family outside securities accounts.
According to Couglar (CRD #1193367)'s broker registration history, the misconduct occurred while he was associated with Linsco/Private Ledger Corp (until 2003), CBIZ Financial Solutions, Inc. (2005-12), and, most recently, Montage Securities, LLC of San Diego (since 2012).
Montage Securities terminated Couglar in December 2016—as did Mariner Wealth Advisors, which Couglar listed as an employer, but with whom he was not registered as a broker—for the outside activities misconduct.
FINRA also cited Couglar for failing to notify Montage of an outside business pertaining to tax preparation services for which he received at least $27,000 in compensation, and for making false statements on multiple compliance questionnaires to Montage that he had fully disclosed his outside business activities even though he did not list his tax preparation service on the compliance forms.
If you have invested with Harold Francis Couglar or with any broker or financial adviser who has exercised discretion over your investment accounts held at a firm where said broker was not registered or otherwise authorized to conduct transactional business, and these unapproved and improper transactions have proven harmful to your investments or interests, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.