DeWaay settles with Finra over sales practices

Don DeWaay, founder of the now-defunct DeWaay Financial Network LLC, has settled a sales practice case with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. Mr. Dewaay agreed to pay a $7,500 fine and accepted a 10-day suspension over alleged misrepresentations to potential investors in a private placement of shares in his holding company, DFN Partners LLC. DFN partners owned his broker-dealer, DeWaay Financial Network. Finra alleged Mr. DeWaay was trying to sell some of his own shares in DFN Partners, and misrepresented his company to investors in a June 2009 conference call. He claimed his firm had enjoyed a 47% surge in revenue at that point in 2009, and expected a “significant increase” for the full year — claims Finra said were unsubstantiated. Mr. DeWaay closed his broker-dealer last November due to mounting legal problems from other private placements the firm sold. A call today to his investment advisory, DeWaay Capital Management, was not immediately returned. Mr. DeWaay did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement agreement, which Finra approved on Wednesday. Whether the Finra penalty will impact Mr. DeWaay is unclear, since he dropped his securities license last January.