LPL adviser’s ads blast ‘economic treason’ of Wall Street

Adviser Frank Congemi is running radio spots this week lambasting government officials and Wall Street firms for the financial crisis, which he calls the “largest economic crime in history.”

Mr. Congemi, an outspoken LPL adviser who manages $100 million in assets, is furious with Wall Street firms and equally furious with the government for bailing them out.

“We need a special prosecutor to investigate certain Wall Street firms for many different reasons and on many different levels,” Mr. Congemi states in one of the ads. “These companies are a cancer on the soul of America and must pay the consequences. How the American people wound up being responsible for the losses of these Wall Street firms who were involved in reckless economic crime is in itself a crime.”

Mr. Congemi, who is an independent advisor affiliated with the LPL Financial platform, was quick to point out that the opinions expressed in the ads are his own, and don’t reflect the views of LPL. He added that he isn’t looking to attract new clients with the advertisements. In fact, he doesn’t even say that he’s an adviser in either advertisement.

Instead, Mr. Congemi, who has offices in Queens, N.Y., and Deerfield Beach, Fla., says he is running the advertisements to persuade listeners to send letters to politicians demanding a special prosecutor to investigate the causes of the financial crisis. He noted that the ads, which started airing on Monday, have already elicited comments from clients who called him. “They told me it’s nice to know that someone is out there saying what we all know to be true,” Mr. Congemi said.

In one of the spots, he compares the government bailout to organized crime. “Let’s suppose Italians ran the largest Wall Street firms. Let’s say they decided to invest all the money that was entrusted to them in risky investments that didn’t have any oversight and were mostly illiquid. Let’s say something happened that caused them to lose everyone’s money. Do you think the government’s reaction would be to come to their rescue with a bailout or prosecute them for organized crime?”

Mr. Congemi, who paid about $3,000 for two 60-second segments which will air several times this week on New York’s 1010 WINS, defended the use of the stereotype of Italians as mobsters because he said he wanted to be as provocative as possible with the ads.

Although Mr. Congemi doesn’t mention the current financial legislation under consideration in Congress in his radio spots, he believes the proposals are aimed at the wrong people.

He believes financial advisers who offered non-biased advice to clients weren’t to blame for the problems on Wall Street and shouldn’t be penalized by the government with more strict regulations.

“We don’t need any more regulation and oversight when we didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “They need to take all of their efforts and send it to people who were part of it. My feeling is the SEC and [the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc.] should be thanking investment advisers for providing advice and helping their clients,” he said.

Shop Talk is a regular column detailing how financial advisers run their businesses. The column focuses on unusual or innovative ways to attract more clients. Suggestions or tips for Shop Talk? E-mail Lisa Shidler at [email protected] or visit the Shop Talk page at InvestmentNews/shoptalk.