Ex-GunnAllen broker bilked $1.3M from seniors

A former broker from GunnAllen Financial Inc. of Tampa, Fla., stole $1.3 million from at least 16 elderly clients in the past six years, according to the New Jersey Bureau of Securities. The broker, Jeffrey Southard of Pittsgrove, N.J., sold phony bonds labeled tax-free investments to his clients, whom he visited regularly, according to New Jersey regulators. On Tuesday, the Trenton-based New Jersey Bureau of Securities ordered him to pay a $50,000 fine and restitution to his victims. The bureau also barred Mr. Southard from the securities business in New Jersey. He used the ill-gotten funds for personal expenses including $237,000 in private school tuitions for five children, $270,000 toward his mortgage, $58,000 for car payments, $87,000 in ATM withdrawals and $36,000 in debit card purchases. Mr. Southard joined GunnAllen in 2003 after resigning from American Express Financial Advisors, where he faced allegations that he offered unregistered securities and mixed client funds with his own. At the time, he said that American Express Financial Advisors, now Ameriprise Financial Inc. of Minneapolis, made false charges against him, according to records with the New York and Washington-based Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. The broker-dealer “falsely accused” him of misdeeds involving client funds, Mr. Southard said at that time “American Express Financial Advisors have acted very unprofessionally and have violated my personal confidentiality,” he wrote, saying he had voluntarily resigned. GunnAllen fired Mr. Southard in July. In a separate action, the New Jersey regulator said yesterday it barred and fined broker Hudson Etienne of Union, who was formerly registered with New England Securities Corp. of Boston. The regulator said he stole $100,000 from a widow in 2005.