Fintech

George Papadopoulos, financial planner, confused with key figure in Trump probe on social media

'For the nth time, I am NOT Trump's foreign policy adviser!' Mr. Papadopoulos pleads on Twitter.

Many investment advisers dream of increasing their recognition and following on social media — but not the way it happened Monday to George Papadopoulos.

Mr. Papadopoulos, a financial planner in Novi, Mich., was mistaken for George Papadopoulos, a former foreign policy adviser to the Donald J. Trump presidential campaign, who pleaded guilty in Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 election. The Mr. Papadopoulos of the probe is cooperating with Mr. Mueller and allegedly had been a conduit between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.

The financial planner Mr. Papadopoulos discovered that, when the biggest news story of the day on perhaps the most explosive issue of the year involves someone who shares your name, you get caught in the social media fray.

“For the nth time, I am NOT Trump’s foreign policy adviser! I have NO association with the Trump camp! NONE!” Mr. Papadopoulos pleaded in a tweet Monday morning.

For the nth time, I am NOT Trump's foreign policy adviser! I have NO association with the Trump camp! NONE!

— George Papadopoulos (@feeonlyplanner) October 30, 2017

Mr. Papadopoulos received sympathy from others on Twitter.

Someone buy this guy a beer today. https://t.co/Y78iRjLi2y

— Michael Corey (@mikejcorey) October 30, 2017

The problem, as someone familiar with Greek nomenclature tweeted, is that the name “George Papadopoulos” is very common in Greece.

George Papadopoulos is to Greeks what John Smith is to the English. leave this George alone!

— Peter Papas (@CanadianFlags) October 30, 2017

Complicating Mr. Papadopoulos’ effort to clear his name is that fact that he’s in Greece right now, according to a tweet, visiting him mother. His mistaken identity could continue all day on Monday, which would mean into the wee hours of the morning in Greece, which is six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time. Mr. Papadopoulos did not respond to a request for comment.

A fee-only adviser, Mr. Papadopoulos has a fairly high profile in the financial advice field. He’s a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal wealth management experts blog, and a vocal member of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. He also is a prolific tweeter, who even found time Monday to post a couple of times about investor psychology and debt.

For the moment, he would probably like a lower profile. But one of his followers suggested he use the mistaken identity incident to his professional advantage.