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The department’s division of securities last month notified Dock Treece of Treece Financial Services Corp. and Treece Investment Advisory Corp., that it intends to issue a “cease and desist” order unless Mr. Treece requests a hearing to contest the order.

The order states that, as an adviser selling securities, Mr. Treece has a duty to inquire about the financial needs of clients and whether the securities he sells them meet those needs. The order alleges that the company doesn’t proactively call or meet with clients to discuss their needs other than initial meetings, and nearly all clients’ assets are placed “into the same funds in identical proportions.”

Dock Treece Client? | Victim of Investment Fraud or Broker Misconduct?

As first reported by the Toledo Blade, “The Ohio Department of Commerce has issued an order to a prominent local investment adviser stating it intends to suspend his securities license and shut down his investment firms. The department’s division of securities last month notified Dock Treece, 67, of Sylvania Township-based Treece Financial Services Corp. and Treece Investment Advisory Corp., that it intends to issue a “cease and desist” order unless Mr. Treece requests a hearing at which he could contest the order.”

“We are issuing the order to state our intent. But an individual can request a hearing to present their side,” said Kerry Francis, a spokesman for the Department of Commerce. But she added that if the issue is not resolved at the hearing, “the business would stop operating. That is the intent.”

“The order states that, as an adviser selling securities, Mr. Treece has a duty to inquire about the financial needs of clients and whether the securities he sells them meet those needs. The order alleges that the company — which has about 300 clients but is run solely by Mr. Treece and his son, Ben Treece — doesn’t proactively call or meet with clients to discuss their needs other than initial meetings, and nearly all clients’ assets are placed into the same funds in identical proportions,” the Toledo Blade article stated.

Mr. Treece said Monday evening that he has not done anything illegal and that the allegations in the order are without merit. He also said he filed a request last week for a hearing to contest the order. It has not yet been scheduled.

According to the state’s order, Treece Financial Services and Treece Investment Advisory charge clients processing fees as a percent of assets managed. Also, Treece’s companies receive sales commissions from the various funds it handles.  The state’s order continued by stating that Treece’s companies billed clients $2.5 million in total advisory fees between January 1, 2013 and September 30, 2017.

Moreover, the state’s order, as reported in the Toledo Blade “alleges that during a meeting with a division examiner, Mr. Treece failed to disclose that there were “six complaints” filed against Treece Advisory Corp. during an earlier examination by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), which regulates member brokerage firms and exchange markets.”