SEC bars financial advisor indefinitely

Andrew Komarow

Connecticut-based Andrew Komarow had been barred by Finra in June.

The Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday indefinitely barred Andrew Komarow, a financial advisor, from engaging in financial activities, less than a year after he was barred by Finra.

Komarow, whose Connecticut-based practice focused on special needs and autism, was found to be engaged in a “free-riding” securities trading scheme from October 2022 to January 2023, the SEC settlement said.

“Free-riding” is a fraudulent practice in which securities traders seek to exploit the “immediate access” credit that’s extended by certain broker-dealers in advance of incoming deposits of cash from bank accounts.

Komarow made “unfunded automated clearing house transfers of money totaling $6.9 million from multiple bank accounts to accounts at broker-dealers and engaged in speculative trading with the resulting credits before the transfers were cancelled for insufficient funds,” the SEC found.

According to the SEC, it is alleged that although Komarow’s trading at each of the broker-dealers didn’t bring in much profit, he removed funds from two accounts in which he had engaged in free-riding. Komarow’s free-riding scheme left the broker-dealers with losses that totaled more than $3 million. Meanwhile, Komarow made at least $615,031 in profits, according to the SEC.

Although none of his clients have come forward with any official complaints, Komarow still was found to have violated a section of the Connecticut Uniform Securities Act, according to the settlement.

Komarow was previously highlighted in an InvestmentNews profile for his focus on neurodiversity and understanding special-needs financial planning. Planning Across The Spectrum, his Connecticut-based firm, specialized in that area, with most of his staff being neurodivergent as well. Komarow was also an InvestmentNews 2021 Diversity, Equity & Inclusion award winner, as a See It, Be It role model.

Komarow agreed to the settlement without admitting to or denying the SEC’s findings.

Komarow’s lawyer, Louis Tambaro, did not respond to calls for comment by the time this article was published.