Jason Poff Accused Of Violating Rules Over Outside Business Activities

Jason Poff (Jason Howell Poff CRD:# 18272) is a registered broker and investment advisor currently employed with Allstate Financial Services, LLC of Houston, TX. Previous employers include LPL Financial LLC (CRD#:6413), Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated (CRD#:7691), and Chase Investment Services Corp. (CRD#:25574), all of Houston. He has been in the industry since 2000.

Although Poff is still currently employed with Allstate Financial Services, he is the subject of a currently pending FINRA investigation into his outside business activities (OBA) while employed with LPL Financial.

In a FINRA disciplinary complaint filed and signed on 12/23/2020, FINRA details Poff’s OBAs with a company he founded called Ursus Consulting LLC. Poff notified LPL and sought approval for involvement in an OBA that included vending machine consultation through Ursus in February of 2016.

According to articles of incorporation filed with the Texas Secretary of State, Poff was the president and sole owner of Ursus. In his follow-up email to the original approval request, he stated, “I have also made it clear that we will NOT help with any asset raise, banking or financial relationship of any kind.” Poff concluded, “I need the approval from Compliance before I really commit.”

After review of the company and its activities, LPL declined to approve the activity on February 29, 2016, and the escalation committee upheld the disapproval on March 16, 2016.

Despite this, Poff continued his OBA with Ursus, including serving as a loan officer for an entity in exchange for expected compensation. However, the entity for which Poff consulted was owned and operated by two individuals who were previously charged with fraud by the SEC for offering fraudulent securities. Poff did not disclose any of this during his tenure, and LPL did not approve any of it.

Poff performed additional work for several of their clients, expecting compensation for this work. He hoped that this OBA would eventually provide replacement income so that he could leave LPL and work solely with his Ursus clients. He once again failed to notify LPL of this activity, and did not receive permission for it.

During compliance questionnaires in August 2016 and September 2017, Poff falsely claimed that:

He had disclosed all OBAs to LPL
He was not involved in any unapproved OBAs
He was not involved with any OBAs with Ursus

From February 20, 2016 to April 12, 2016, Poff drafted at least 24 consulting contracts for potential borrowers. At least eight of these were executed by the potential borrowers, which included processing of cashier’s checks and transfer of funds to the borrowers. Some of the borrowers also signed powers of attorney that allowed Ursus to process a cashier’s check issued by CSS Entities, then direct those funds to the borrower’s accounts. CSS Entities issued cashier’s checks in amounts ranging from $150,000 to $1 billion.

From May 2017 through February 2018, Poff also engaged in business activities with MGA, who was planning a family investment office. Poff was also expecting compensation for his work with MGA. He also worked with another individual to trade securities that were not offered by LPL.

Poff then ceased all outside activity when he learned of LPL’s investigation into his OBA.

LPL filed a Form U5 (Uniform Termination Notice of Securities Industry Registration) on May 8, 2018, indicating that Poff voluntarily resigned from the firm. He was under an internal review after it was discovered that he was violating the firm’s policies on outside business activities. He subsequently moved to Allstate Financial Services, where he remains employed.

However, the FINRA investigation continues, and the agency requests monetary sanctions from Poff as well as the costs of the proceedings.

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