SEC Accuses Financial Talker Dawn Bennett Of Fraud

Bennett

Financial advisor and radio show host DAWN BENNETT is facing fraud charges from the SEC, the agency has disclosed.

The SEC is alleging that BENNETT, who bought time to air "FINANCIAL MYTH BUSTING WITH DAWN BENNETT" on SALEM News-Talk WWRC-A/WASHINGTON station starting in 2010 and took the show into syndication via RADIO AMERICA last year, "grossly inflat(ed) the amount of managed assets and exaggerating the investment returns actually obtained for customers" on her paid radio show, telling listeners that "highly profitable investment returns generated by BENNETT GROUP FINANCIAL SERVICES placed it in the 'top 1 percent' of firms worldwide without disclosing that the returns were calculated for a model portfolio and not based on actual investor performance."  She was also charged with falsely claiming in three submissions to a media organization that they managed assets of $1.1 billion to $1.8 billion, resulting in her being ranked fifth in a listing of the "2011 Top Advisors" in WASHINGTON; she allegedly told listeners that her firm managed assets in the $1.5 billion-$2 billion range when her actual managed assets only reached about $407 million.

“We allege that in a calculated effort to inflate their profile and prestige, BENNETT and her firm overhyped the amount of assets they manage for customers and the actual returns on their investments,” said SEC PHILADELPHIA Regional Office Director SHARON BINGER  “The investing public is entitled to a level of confidence that information they receive about brokerage and advisory services is accurate, and this case shows that so-called financial experts on the radio are often merely advertisers who may not be doing so truthfully.”

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