Philadelphia Stockbroker Paul W. Smith Charged With Running Ponzi Scheme

According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, between 2001 and 2016, Paul W. Smith raised $2.35 million from 30 investors by telling them he would invest their money in publicly traded securities through The Haverford Group. This was an outside partnership that Smith formed and did not disclose to his broker-dealer employers. Many of his victims were retired and/or elderly. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged that Smith made very few securities investments and instead largely used the money to repay other investors and for his own personal use. He allegedly fabricated phony account statements that reflected fictitious balances and gains and used money from investors to repay others to avoid suspicion. Smith was misappropriating investors’ money and lying about it. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) permanently barred him from industry last June for failing to provide requested documents.

According to his online, FINRA BrokerCheck report, Paul W. Smith was previously registered with Prudential-Bache Securities from December 1982 until February 1987, E.F. Hutton from January 1987 until April 1988, Shearson Lehman Hutton in New York, New York from April 1988 until January 1990, Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from January 1990 until July 2000, Tucker Anthony Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts from June 2000 until February 2002, Philadelphia Brokerage Corp in Wayne, Pennsylvania from January 2002 until May 2007 and Bolton Global Capital in Wayne from May 2007 until February 2017. He has 11 customer disputes against him, eight of which are currently pending. He has been permanently barred from the industry.