Errant ex-advisor who lost clients almost $2M hit with 10-year prohibition

The SEC has handed down a 10-year prohibition against an investment advisor who it said lost his clients millions of dollars after putting them in private placements that were unsuitable for them.

According to the order published June 27, Jacob Glick is a former investment adviser representative with Advanced Practice Advisors. He was associated with the firm from September 2015 to June 2017, when he was terminated for what APA described as "reckless disregard for determining client suitability."

Following his termination, Glick registered IGA Capital, a registration he later withdrew in May 2018. He has since ceased working in the securities industry and resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The SEC cited a district court decision dated August 16, 2022 against Glick, which found he violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

According to the regulator’s complaint relating to the case, Glick used his discretionary authority to place clients in unsuitable and risky investments between mid-2016 and mid-2018, leading to losses of almost $2 million.

A disclosure note on Glick’s BrokerCheck profile detailed how he breached his fiduciary duty by failing to disclose risks around investing in stock options, as opposed to stocks, and invested elderly clients primarily in Rite Aid shares and options.

“Glick's unsuitable investments in RAD resulted in over $1 million in realized and unrealized losses for the clients advised by Glick,” the note raid.

He was also accused of making material misrepresentations to clients and misappropriating their investments in a private placement offering. He tried to hide the losses from those private placements by “[engaging] in a scheme to defraud,” the SEC said.

In one instance, the regulator said Glick obtained over $675,000 from an elderly client, part of which he placed in an unsuitable long-term property. He reportedly used her remaining funds to pay off personal debts, including obligations to advisory clients he had persuaded into investing in his private placement offering.

The complaint also detailed how Glick advised clients via text messages on his personal cellphone, then sold the phone without preserving client communications despite repeated instructions from APA to do so.

Without admitting to or denying the SEC’s findings, Glick agreed to be barred from the industry for 10 years, after which he can apply for reentry.