State regulator revokes registration of adviser who sold Woodbridge securities

N.J. investment representative Gary Scheer was also assessed $750,000 in civil penalties for selling fraudulent investments

The New Jersey Bureau of Securities said it revoked the registration of an investment adviser representative for selling more than $12 million of unregistered securities, including investments tied to a Ponzi scheme and other investment scams.

Gary Scheer, managing member and sole investment adviser representative of Retirement Financial Advisors, in Morristown, N.J., was also assessed $750,000 in civil penalties, according to a release from state regulators.

Mr. Scheer recommended and sold unregistered securities in seven investments to at least 50 investors from 2010 through 2018, the regulator said. Six of the seven investments ultimately were determined by either federal and/or state authorities to be fraudulent generating more than $600,000 in commissions for Mr. Scheer, regulators said.

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“Investment advisers are expected to serve the interests of their customers with undivided loyalty, and not exploit them for financial gain,” New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir S. Grewal said in the release. “We will not allow unscrupulous professionals to undermine the integrity of New Jersey’s financial industry by enriching themselves at the financial expense of their customers.”

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The investments included the unregistered Woodbridge securities, an alleged $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme that defrauded 8,400 real estate investors nationwide, and the unregistered Northridge securities, an alleged fraudulent real estate investment, which was recently tied to charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission, regulators said in the release.