Barred adviser to fight elderly theft charges in court

A New Jersey financial adviser who last week was barred from the securities industry and last year was charged with attempted theft of the elderly says he plans to contest those allegations.

The adviser, Jeffrey Dampf, was barred from the securities industry on Friday as part of a settlement with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. for not cooperating in its investigation of allegations that he stole money from an elderly client. Dampf did not appear to testify or turn over documents to Finra in its investigation of the matter, according to the order.

A year ago, Dampf, 70, was charged with attempted theft, with the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office in New Jersey alleging that he, in his capacity as the power of attorney and accountant for two elderly siblings, was misappropriating funds entrusted to him for the care of the two elderly victims.

"Dampf attempted to electronically transfer $500,000 to an investment account from the elderly victim’s bank account for his own personal benefit," according to a statement on Oct. 30, 2020, from Ocean County prosecutors. Two home health care aides who Dampf had hired were charged with theft at the same time.

"Basically, I’m going to fight this whole thing, not with Finra but the courts," Dampf said in an interview Tuesday morning. "I haven’t taken a nickel."

"I was the power of attorney," he said. "The caregivers were stealing left and right."

Dampf was registered at PFS Investments Inc. from 2009 until last month, when he was "permitted to resign," according to his BrokerCheck report.

A spokesperson for Primerica Inc., which owns PFS Investments, did not return a call to comment.