How Investors Could Have Avoided A $2.7M Cherry-Picking Scheme

A Connecticut-based investment advisor agreed to pay almost $3 million to settle fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission in September. On September 14, the SEC announced that it had reached a settlement with Greenwich-based advisory firm GlennCap and its owner Jonathan Vincent Glenn. 

The SEC alleged that Glenn, whose firm has $14 million in assets under management, “cherry-picked” investment results. He steered the best investment returns into his own accounts and to his favored clients who paid higher fees, while allocating a disproportionate amount of unprofitable trades to disfavored clients. The SEC accused GlennCap and Glenn of running the scheme from January 2020 to March 2022. 

During this time, the SEC says Glenn had discretionary authority over his clients’ assets. With that authority, Glenn allegedly engaged in block trading, pooling his clients’ assets and investing them without keeping track of which accounts the specific transactions were meant for. After seeing whether a position increased or decreased in value, the SEC says he allocated the more profitable trades to accounts that he favored — a practice that isn’t allowed.

With Intelligo’s comprehensive background intelligence platform, investors could have seen trouble years ahead of time for GlennCap.

Intelligo’s systems flagged two major proceedings involving Glenn, one in US Federal Court and the other before a FINRA Arbitration Panel. In 2006, Glenn was sued by his former employer, Merrill Lynch, for stealing client information and leaving to join Morgan Stanley. Glenn claimed that Merrill Lynch was at fault since the firm entrusted client information with advisors who frequently leave to go to other firms. And since Merrill Lynch doesnt safeguard the client information as well as the bank should, Glenn argued, it makes this data less-than-confidential and up for grabs. Ultimately, Merrill Lynch obtained a temporary restraining order against Glenn.

Glenn later found himself as a defendant in a 2021 FINRA arbitration proceeding, facing another former employer — this time Wells Fargo, which claimed it had terminated Glenn’s employment and wanted to collect on promissory notes they issued to Glenn in the amount of $495,250. Glenn claimed that he should get an award since he left Morgan Stanley to work for Wells Fargo. They ultimately settled, and Glenn was liable for the full amount of the promissory notes. 

Notably, on Glenn’s brokerage and advisory licenses, neither his lawsuit with Merrill Lynch nor his termination from Wells Fargo were disclosed.

In addition to picking up these adverse signals when conducting background checks, Intelligo’s AI and human analysis also quickly and accurately identifies name variations and aliases. In this case, Glenn went by several aliases, including J. Vincent Glenn and Vince Glenn. 

Combining the critical discernment of human experts with cutting-edge AI, Intelligo provides the most comprehensive individual and company background checks on investment subjects before trouble hits. Stay ahead of adverse events – Sign up for a demo today.