I admit that I’ve always been a little skeptical of Bruce Fenton's work history claims. Different firms with limited web presence and no specific deals listed anywhere. Poorly crafted main website that also doesn't list any employees or specific deals done:
http://www.atlanticfinancial.com/>>>>TRUE - haven't updated the website in ages because the focus isn't relevant, haven't accepted retail clients for years.
So I did a little more digging, it does seem at a minimum that there is some puffery in his bio and some misstatements in some comments he made as part of his running for Director of the Foundation. I’ll go through my research in the order it occurred, as some of the conclusions evolved through the process, and am trying to be neutral. Also, I note that all the info linked is either information Bruce has published, or is publically available info by virtue of his business activities.
First, take a look at his linkedin page:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucefenton Give it a read, looks pretty impressive.
>>>>> Everything on this LinkedIn is accurate, there is absolutely nothing inconsistent or inaccurate
And then go to this link which shows the form ADV for his current firm, Atlantic Financial. On the left, there is link for "view all in PDF."
http://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov/iapd/content/viewform/adv/Sections/iapd_AdvRegulatorStatusSection.aspx?ORG_PK=159167&RGLTR_PK=50030&STATE_CD=MA&FLNG_PK=00AFF2940008017C01A413100562A635056C8CC0So let us start at Item 5 - employees. He has only one listed, himself. This seems a bit at odds with his claim on linkedin that "Atlantic Financial is a full service investment and wealth management company founded in 1994 and was the first full service investment firm on the Internet."
>>>>> How is this at odds? We use independent contractors.
Now lets go to 5.D. 5.D.1. shows his client allocation by % of clients. But then in 5.D.2 it shows "approximate amount of your regulatory assets under management (reported in Item 5.F. below) attributable to each of the following type of client." Bruce checks "None" for every single category.
>>>>> Yes, that's correct we don't use the RIA to manage assets,
Now on 5.G, type of services he provides, he checked the box for "financial planning services" and "portfolio management." So maybe the reason for the "none" above is that his business is more about "financial planning services" than "portfolio management." But, it appears no, as 5.H says he provided planning services to 0 clients in the past year.
>>>> My work for the last six years or more has been big picture deal focused and economic advisory work which does not fall under the services of a registered investment advisor. My main clients during this time were a $60-70 billion private equity firm and a $60 billion private foundation. When you work at that level the assets are not counted under your assets under management -- it would be inaccurate to count the full assets -- also the work is typically done on a flat fee, retainer or contract based on time, not assets under management like smaller client relationships typically are
Note that his linkedin says he: "- personally placed or sourced over $5 billion in investments during career" and "- created and managed $500 million in-house investment services group for 100 year old law firm.”
>>>>> Yes, this is correct, the majority was mutual funds, followed by equites, I also raised money for private equity deals - the law firm is Bowditch and Dewey who I created and a managed the investment advisory practice for for about 7 years, this contracted ended some years back and they still have the investment group
Now let’s look at Item 6, "Other Business Activities." He lists none. But his linkedin page notes that he is also a managing director of Boston Gulf Advisors. Incidentally, the facebook page for Boston Gulf Advisors is here:
https://www.facebook.com/BostonGulfAdvisorsGroup/ It lists the company website as
http://bostongulfconsulting.com/ When I click that link, I get "Error establishing a database connection."
>>>>> Boston Gulf Advisors Group is not an outside business activity, it is simply a trade name of AF Asset Management which was made at the request of the foundation client because my Saudi Arabia economic advisory work overlapped with my investment client work (speaking to the same sets of people on behalf of two different clients) and it was easier to segregate the two with a DBA / trade name as the foundation did not want to be confused with private equity
There is more we could do here, but lets take a detour. Go back to the main page and look on the left for "Brochures." Click ADV Form 2B. Scroll down to "Education." Yes, he lists a BA from Bentley University, as with linkedin. But unlike on linkedin, here he lists a graduation date of 2006, well after his first financial job as a VP at Morgan Stanley in 1992. So not on outright misstatement, but a little obfuscation. And, if he had been in the investment banking group at Morgan Stanley, there is no way he would get hired without a college degree and make VP in two years. But the investment advisor group could be different.
>>>>> Absolutely not a misstatement in any way -- after high school I joined the Navy, I started work in the investment business prior to having a college degree - later in life I attended Bentley as an adult evening undergrad and received a degree in 2006, I don't usually include the Bentley grad date because people often assume that you were standard college grad age at that time and I would not want someone to glacé quickly and inaccurately assume I had only 8-9 years professional experience
Next, look at "Business Background." His Atlantic Financial experience here begins 9/2011, versus linkedin where his experience for that firm is: "December 1994 – Present (21 years 2 months)".
>>>>>> This is completely consistent and both are accurate. This accusation off base comes from not understanding the investment business and how it works. I founded Atlantic Financial in December 1994 and this has been my company all this time. That's been my business card, email and letter head and my legal employer on my tax return. As an independent firm, owned by me, I engaged various companies over the years to serve as my back office and hold my licenses. Like many thousands and thousands of firms, I did not serve as my own broker dealer or clearing firm I hired someone else to do this and placed my license with them. This is standard for most independent firms. I was not an employee of Cantella and did not work in their offices, but they did hold my license. During all of this time I had an Atlantic Financial business card and that name on my door.
He also doesn't list Morgan Stanley, Boston Gulf, or any other experience from his linkedin page. But he does list "03/1998 – 09/2011 Registered Representative Cantella & Co. Inc."
>>>>> Again, this is because you don't understand how FINRA registrations work, that's fine, no one other than FINRA members and lawyers do understand this, what's not fine is making an accusation based on so,etching that you don't know much about...especially without simply asking me first - Hwre is how it works: the FINRA Broker Check you looked up is taken from your U4 form - the U4 form has a very different format and purpose than a LinkedIn page -- the U4 primarily focuses on your actual broker dealer licensing and registrations and does not ask or care about the names or corporate status of Offices of Supervisory Jurisdiction (OSJs) or the incorporated / business name of the entities of a registered person -- in 2011 we stopped using outside back officer providers and became an RIA only with no broker dealer affiliation so at that time there was no other group holding my license.>>>>>>
Now, my first reaction was that this was a pretty huge lie, but on digging around more on Cantella and Bruce Fenton and from what I know of the financial advisor / broker dealer space, it seems like it is possible that while technically being a registered rep at Cantella, he could still market himself as Atlantic Financial. For example, see this link:
http://209.132.84.78/investing/fidelity-advisor-worst-days-followed-by-gains.pdf>>>>>> No, not a lie in any way at all, not remotely, indirectly in any way at all. It is an extraordinarily common practice used by thousands of firms and tens of thousands of representatives. It is completely in compliance and FINRA regulations have several rules recognizing and governing Offices of Supervisory Jurisdiction. Unfortunate that your first reaction was that I was lying rather than you asking me or doing more research, you've now thrown my name out with accusations which are unfounded
Although looking at his Finra history, Cantella is expressly listed as his employer:
http://brokercheck.finra.org/Report/Download/40521359 (if direct link does not work, enter 2286983 in the spot where it asks for name or CRD number.) And, again to try and be balanced, it also shows he was previously registered at Dean Witter Reynolds around the same time as his Linkedin profile claims he was a VP at Morgan Stanley. Dean Witter was a retail brokerage that merged with Morgan Stanley, a more prestigious and international full service investment bank. But that merger occurred well after Bruce was there, in 1997. So more puffery in trying to use what I view as a more prestigious name. Also, it is still odd the dates don’t match exactly, and that he is listed as having been registered with two other firms that appear nowhere on his linkedin bio.
>>>>>> Dean Witter doesn't exist anymore, all my employment records and old licensing are at Morgan Stanley - all of the people I worked with are at Morgan Stanley and anyone wanting to check my records or verify anything would have to call Morgan Stanley. The other firms don't appear because they were only back office service providers. Who you are registered with for U4 / FINRA purposes is different than who you are actually employed by. The exception is a large wirehouse like UBS or Morgan Stanley where the one holding your license and your employer are the same company.
This is why I say there is definitely some puffery in his bio. In my mind, there is a big difference in being a financial advisor “representative” affiliated with various firms over the years, going from being a young VP at Morgan Stanley to founding a global “full service investment and wealth management company founded in 1994 [that] was the first full service investment firm on the Internet.”
>>>>> Atlantic Financial is the first full service investment firm on the Internet and is global -- this isn't puffery
It also raises the question of why he left Cantella relationship. And it now appears that the reason for the form ADV listing zero amounts is that he must have left that relationship, to finally create his own advisory firm that needed to be individually registered. Those amounts may be zero because he was unable to bring clients over, or was not able to until he got registered.
>>>>>> No, again you are speculating with, unfortunately, no knowledge whatsoever -- I really wish you would have asked me before publicly accusing me of dishonesty, all of your items are easily explained. I left Cantella because my practice was changing with more large clients and big picture economic advisor work, I no longer needed the FINRA broker dealer status or back office as that type of activity was less than 5% of overal revenue at the time yet comes with it a great deal of hassle -- also, as I was beginning to spend about 50% of my time outside the US it did not make sense to be an OSJ of an American broker dealer>>>>
Interstingly, that same Finra link lists several "Disclosure Events", all of which seem to be in the category of: "Financial". If you go to the full report, they appear to involve 3 instances of renegotiating debt with credit card companies. In the most recent, he managed to settle an amount due of $35,000 to Citibank for $6,100 in June of 2011. Interestingly, that is around the time he left Cantella (September 2011.)
>>>>>>> Yes, as I've explained in the other thread which dug up this info. These are my only disclosures in 20 years. Zero customer complaints, zero regulatory actions, no lawsuits, babkruptcies, fines, sanctions, disciplinary actions or issues with anyone supervised by me. It is considered a spotless record from a compliance standpoint. As for the credit cards, we had an employee have access to credit in my name, credit card debt was accumulated and the bills were sent to an apartment / office I had in NYC. The employee left and the office was closed. I didn't even know about the debt until some time later, collections called me and I explained the situation, they knocked off the penalties and let me pay only what I originally owed them. As I said on Reddit, I don't even think this qualifies as a financial disclosure but my compliance officer at the time wanted it listed anyway. It does not count as a black mark on the U4. Essentially Negotiating to have penalties removed is the worst thing my record covers in 20 years.
Note that in his Reddit election AMA (
https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/2qqsnh/hi_reddit_rbitcoin_im_bruce_fenton_running_for/cn8s80f) he noted: "the only disclosable event on my FINRA U4 license is that I renegotiated about $20k in credit card debt in around 2006 I believe -- I actually dont think this was required to be disclosed as a material financial event but my compliance officer at the time encouraged me to do so to be sure." And the other two events that were listed on the Finra form were both in 2010. So he was off on the amount, the date, and the number of disclosures.
>>>>>> Yes, I did not go back and check the amount, just as I'm not checking it based on your post now, it was minor either way. I'll take your word for it, whatever the amount you say is listed.
So the Reddit comment is an outright lie, and it does make you wonder why a successful money manager needed to renegotiate credit card debt in the two years before he left his employer of more than 12 years.
>>>>> Not a lie at all - it's a super minor amount from a long time ago I really don't remember much more and have never thought about it other than these two times it's been brought up on chat boards. I have good credit, I own my home, I pay my bills, I've never been sued or bankrupt etc.
And to give him credit, that same report mentions in "Other Business Activities" his involvement with FDVT, advising private industry and governments on various things, and that he is a consultant for XXXX XXXXXXX [removed by Bruce] for activities related to the Middle East, where he is compensated on a flat fee basis. But we still have no proof that he "placed or sourced" $5 billion of investments over his career.
>>>>> Okay, so, since my client name is already Doxxed on this shit show of non-logical and incorrect accusations --- doesn't this make a bit of sense? Are you familiar with that company? Doesn't this pretty much explain all your theories?
So that is the current summary. I’ve tried to be neutral, and am open to any response from Bruce or others on this booard. But I have to also say that at a minimum, the puffery and misstatements in his background, as well as his combative attitude on this board, don’t make me that optimistic that the Bitcoin Foundation is in much better hands.
>>>>>> My attitude towards this board is partly based on a tendency to accuse without full data. I hope you consider offering an apology. It is extremely serious to attack someone's credibility and accuse them of lying. Everything on my LinkedIn is completely accurate, differences with the U4 data from FINRA are completely normal and, in fact, it would not be accurate for someone to claim they worked for a broker dealer when they did not but had an OSJ registered with them. After my explanations, the only possible complaints you could still have are about a minor debt settlement (to be clear this isn't a lawsuit, bankruptcy or anything along those lines, simply negotiating a lower payment) and the use of the name of the post merger Morgan Stanley instead of pre-merger Dean Witter. I'm really not trying to bolster my resume for something from 20 years ago, I used the post merger name because I think it makes sense and this is who has my records at this time.
What a lot of time you spent on this.
Most of your comments are easily and logically explained or are premises based on not having a full understanding of how the investment business works.
Answers included above.
