Just read that GWG stopped buying life insurance policy in 2019 which made the L Bond have no market value.

Again, we have to ask why Michael didn't know this or did he and just kept selling them anyways.

Why didn't Michael let his clients know the second he knew the company missed their filing deadline with the SEC and give the people the option to stay in or sell. Would he have lost commissions?

The reason he continued to ignore his responsibility to be a fiduciary is MONEY. As a business grows and is successful the management gets used to the lifestyle that comes with that success. It is very hard to admit to friends and family that you need to adjust your lifestyle so you find alternative ways to keep the income flowing. In the case of GWG, high commissions meant the income could continue and the lifestyle did not have to change, at least not right then. We have focused on GWG but buying and selling clients' stocks, putting them in risky investments that were not appropriate for their age and portfolio, and other income-producers were also used by Michael L Whitaker and Associates.

Note that a typical stock broker or insurance salesperson is not required to be a fiduciary, unless they are providing advice on a retirement account. So, they usually cannot be held liable for selling a risky product that may not be appropriate for a client of a certain age or financial situation. It's buyer beware. The investment and insurance industries have many lobbyists working fulltime to prevent these salespeople from being required to act as fiduciaries. They are also trying to repeal the retirement account requirement. So, when you hire any financial advisor, you should demand that they certify to you, in writing, that they will act as a fiduciary when giving you advice. Although, I doubt that many insurance salespeople will provide this certification.

Michael L Whitaker holds himself and his company out to be a fiduciary. His ads and other material he puts out for his company also, either outright say he has to act as a fiduciary. In my opinion, anyone who is advising another person about what to do with their money should only be acting in the best interest of their clients, friend, or associates. Whitaker has always held himself and his company out to be a fiduciary to his clients. Many times breaching this responsibility for his own gain.

A financial advisor or insurance salesperson is not required to be a fiduciary. And, on his website, I didn't find anything that says he is a fiduciary. In fact, this is an excerpt from his website:

"The calculations do not infer that our company, or the company providing the calculators, assumes any fiduciary duties."

So, he is specifically denying fiduciary duties.

Unless you have a written certification that he agrees to be your fiduciary, I think he will deny it a lawsuit. Any reputable financial advisor who is willing to advise you as a fiduciary will gladly give you a personal letter clearly stating the fiduciary relationship.

Sounds like we have a plant here defending the indefensible.

Not a plant or defending anyone. Just explaining the facts. Unscrupulous advisors do not want to be fiduciaries.

whitaker
 

Will it be difficult for me to move my account from Michael Whitaker to Edward Jones?
I have two IRA's and a Family Trust, all totaling under 500k.
Any comments on the Edward Jones investment firm? thank you in advance

He was a client of Michael L Whitaker for many years and he and his company were very good initially. He has always represented himself, his employees, and his company as Fiduciaries. Keep up with the thread and you will see that others have, or have been given the exact representation Whitaker gave to us.

I don't know anything about Edward Jones. But, I am sure they will handle a direct transfer of your IRA assets to their company. If you need to liquidate the investments and purchase similar assets with Edward James, there will be no tax consequences. I don't know about the trust assets. I would suggest that you consider Fidelity or Vanguard over Edward Jones. Lower fees.

Excellent advice. EJ is known for having very high fees. Far better off with Vanguard or Fidelity.

If you are following this thread then you will know that Michael L Whitaker holds certain licenses like FINRA that make Michael L Whitaker and Associates Fiduciaries. Furthermore, I have attended many meetings over the years where Michael L Whitaker himself has touted, proudly, that he always acts as a Fiduciary in dealing with his clients. This is not even close to being true. Slick, smooth talker, yes Fiduciary NO.

Just picked up my mail. Guess what I got? A free dinner at lopez from Mr Whittaker!

Im rushing to sign up..after all, it said it fills up fast!

This is Michael L. Whitaker of Michael Whitaker & Associates. I am writing to address some recent posts here (and comments to those posts) that contain misleading and outright false allegations about me, as well as misleading information regarding GWG L Bonds, an investment that some of my clients own. The purpose of this post is to provide readers with the relevant facts regarding myself and the services I provide to my clients in light of the false descriptions that some people have posted here. Unfortunately, I feel this response is necessary to defend my personal and professional reputation in hopes that readers are not misled by the false information in these postings.

First and foremost, I have been in the financial services field for 38 years. For about half of that time, I worked primarily in the insurance business and was not required to be registered with a broker-or investment advisor. I have a degree in finance from the University of South Florida and I am a Chartered Financial Consultant. I began my career in the financial services industry in 1984 in and around The Villages and have strived to provide each and every one of my clients with dedicated and client-focused advice and services. I have always strived to put the interests of my clients first and foremost. My investment recommendations are not driven by the commissions and fees that a particular investment may generate, but rather by what investments I reasonably believe are in the best interest of and appropriate for my clients, given their particular objectives, needs and circumstances. I do not charge my clients unreasonable or duplicative fees or commissions (as was falsely alleged in at least one of the postings).

It has been the honor and privilege of my lifetime to serve this community as a financial services professional. The false assertion that I would knowingly recommend a “scam” investment to any of my clients is as hurtful as it is wrong. Over the course of my career, the majority of the investments that I have recommended to my clients have performed well. However, as every investor must acknowledge, virtually all investments carry some risk with them. I am confident that you also would agree with me that financial advisors do not have a “crystal ball” and cannot be expected to accurately predict the future performance of the investments they recommend. Indeed, certain investments that were reasonable and appropriate when recommended may occasionally be adversely impacted by subsequent market forces outside of a financial advisor’s control. However, that does not mean that the investment recommendation, when made (often years earlier), was in any way improper or illegal.

Such is the case with GWG L Bonds, the investment that is mentioned in certain of the posts below. At the time that I made recommendations to certain clients to consider an investment in GWG L Bonds, that company had an outstanding track record of performance, and had never missed an interest payment or a redemption request. I submit to you that I had a reasonable basis for each recommendation I made to each client who purchased this product. However, subsequent events and market forces outside my control resulted in the issuer of the GWG L Bonds filing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy case in May 2022. This bankruptcy proceeding is ongoing, and the Debtor has advanced a bankruptcy plan to marshall the company’s substantial assets that, if approved, is likely to result in substantial distributions to investors. While the precise amount of any such distributions cannot be accurately predicted at this moment, it likewise cannot be accurately predicted whether, or to what extent, investors will ultimately realize any losses on this investment. Notably, the allegation that GWG is a “Ponzi-scheme” is not accurate and flat out false. In fact, many of the allegations posted here regarding GWG have been pulled directly from websites for attorneys attempting to solicit investors to file premature and opportunistic claims against their advisors who sold GWG L Bonds, while the company is in the midst of its efforts to return as much value as possible to its L Bond holders through the bankruptcy proceeding.

As many of you know, I pride myself on frequent communication with my clients, and the GWG situation has been no exception to that practice. I have continued to communicate with my clients regarding the status of their investments and any additional information as it becomes available. If you are interested in accurate information regarding the bankruptcy proceeding of GWG, you can find the website where all documents and updates from that proceeding are posted if you google "Donlin Recano GWG". It is the first link that comes up. Unfortunately, this thread will not allow me to include the link myself.
I am eternally grateful for the business and support my clients have shown me over the years, and I hope this additional information corrects and clarifies some of the false claims that have been posted about me recently on this forum. I invite you to contact me directly if you have any questions or want to discuss any of these issues.

Thank you, Michael Whitaker, for having the courage to respond here.

I believe it is possible that you also were duped.

The web site you referenced is to the claims adminstrator. It does not provide any new information. It does tell you where and how to file a claim for the bankruptcy.

This is from another attorney's website, (MDF Law) He says these are facts.

Fast Facts About GWG Holdings
*The company filed for bankruptcy in Texas on April 20, 2022.
*It has been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission since at least October 2020. GWG told investors about the investigation in November 2021 – nearly a year after receiving the first subpoena.
*GWG’s accountants resigned in December 2021.
*GWG Holdings has a complicated and obtuse corporate structure. The majority of its assets are owned by affiliates that did not file for bankruptcy.
*Beginning in 2018, the principals of GWG began “investing” investors’ money in their own personal business ventures. These “investments” were not disclosed to investors. There is more information about these transactions in the graphic below.
*In public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, GWG Holdings stated it could not pay interest to bondholders unless it continued raising new money. These statements raise serious questions about the legitimacy of GWG’s business operations.
*GWG L Bonds were not credit rated nor were they insured

Notice that point 6 is the very definition of a Ponzi scheme.

Also from MDF Law--
Were L Bonds low risk?

No. Despite its marketing to the contrary, L Bonds were a high-risk investment. This is what the prospectus for GWG L Bonds says, “Investing in our L Bonds may be considered speculative and involves a high degree of risk, including the risk of losing your entire investment.” Unlike most conventional bonds, L Bonds were not credit rated by any rating agency (i.e. S&P or Moody’s) nor were they insured. What’s worse, L Bonds were subordinated to GWG Holdings’ other creditors. This means that other creditors will be paid back first, before L Bond holders, in the event of a bankruptcy.



NEVER put more than 4-5% of your portfolio in any one investment.

Thank you for posting. Can you clear something up? Some posters have stated that you told them that you are a fiduciary, but your post doesn't include the word fiduciary in it, and your website does not claim that you are a fiduciary. Do you provide your clients a letter clearly stating that you are representing them as a fiduciary? If not, do you inform them that you are not acting as a fiduciary when providing advice?

Also, the OP claims that you told them that the GWG L bonds was not a "high risk" investment and led them to believe that it was a safe investment. But, the GWG L bond prospectus very clearly states that it is a high risk investment. So, is the OP lying or just mistaken?

This post is from Michael J. Whitaker of Michael Whitaker & Associates.

I would like to set the record straight regarding a post that was made about me and my personal life. Yes, I was arrested in February of 2020. At the time, I was going through an exceedingly difficult divorce, and a challenging time in my life. The charges against me were made by my now ex-wife and were not true. The charge of witness tampering was completely dropped. I plead “no contest” to the battery charge. I will say without going into too much personal detail, it was in the best interest of my children to plead no contest to the battery charge. Any attorney that is going to post comments trying to defame someone, or make them look bad, should post both sides of the story instead of putting someone down to attract business, respectfully.

Let me also say that I have been in the financial services industry since 2008. I hold 2-15 insurance, series 7, and series 66 licenses that I have worked very hard for. I always have, and always will try and do for my clients what I feel is best for them. I am supremely confident at least the vast majority of my clients that have been with me for some time would say that I am a good natured, caring, hardworking man. I care about my clients. I try and do the right thing even if it means sometimes, I do not make any money doing it.

Furthermore, I am independent, and have no financial interest in investing my clients' assets in certain investments over others. I start with what makes sense for the client and work it backwards from there.

Thank you for responding, Mr. Whitaker.
A ChFC (Chartered Financial Consultant) and a CFP (Certified Financial Planner) are held to the fiduciary standard. You are a ChFC. Yet, I still have not read in your posts where you clearly state that you agree that you are a fiduciary.
It appears you may have acted in the far less stringent “suitability standard” with regard to the sale of these L-bonds. Would you please answer the following questions so we can resolve some of the concerns that the posts raise?
1. Are you a fiduciary?
2. Have you ALWAYS acted as a fiduciary while representing your clients?
3. Did you charge an AUM fee on these L-bonds?
4. Did you continue to sell these L-bonds after the SEC opened an investigation?
5. Your free dinner invitation clearly states: “Investing in the above programs may be considered speculative and involves a high degree of risk, including the risk of a substantial loss of investment or the entire loss of investment “. How can you possibly believe this type of an investment would be appropriate for retired seniors?
These are straightforward questions that deserve a clear and concise answer.

Mike1206? Who are you anyway? I guess that once you deceive you always deceive. Even in the face of growing evidence that you did not act as a fiduciary with your clients you now are telling people you are Michael L Whitaker in one message and then you are saying you are Michael J Whitaker in another. How can the people, most of which, are or have been, your clients believe anything you say.

In response to your reply Michael

* Are you or are you not a fiduciary advisor? As stated in this thread you carry the CHFC does that make you a fiduciary advisor? You have told your clients that you are.
*Did you sell GWG L Bonds as a HIGH-RISK ALTERNATIVE product or did you sell it like my parents thought it was a SAFE product where their principle was safe from market loss.
You stated that you "Investment I reasonably believed are in the best interest of and appropriate for my clients" how can it be both High-risk per their prospectus and appropriate for your senior clients.
*SEC website states that GWG and brokers did not follow Reg Bl's - "Care Obligation: brokers did not exercise reasonable diligence, care and skill to understand the risk in selling GWG L Bonds.
*SEC 10/2020 subpoena GWG about their accounting practices and their merge with Beneficent. GWG used new investor money to support and develop Beneficent. 2022 GWG and Beneficent separated.
*FINRA states GWG L Bonds sales to elderly customer unsuitable. What is the average age of your customers? 70?
* You state "However, subsequent events and MARKET FORCES outside my control"
I found this NOT a creditable statement. GWG for the last 5 years in business had to use new bondholders' money to pay existing bondholders their monthly interest (Ponzi Scheme) they moved over $250 Million dollar to Beneficent (why the SEC started the investigation). GWG L Bonds were not sold on the open market so how could Market Forces have anything to do with its downfall?
* You stated that calling GWG Ponzi Scheme as a flat out lie. Then what do you call a company that Robs Peter to Pay Paul? It is a fact that the GWG told SEC that they needed to sell new bonds to pay their existing bondholders. According to the SEC website.
*You also stated that most of the information on the web about GWG is from lawyers that just want to sue brokers. I want you to know I have been researching GWG for all different sites, SEC, FINRA, WallStreet, lawyers, bloggers, and so on. All have stated that GWG L Bonds as a High-Risk investment and not suitable for seniors or conservative to moderate investors. I can't image all your hundreds of clients that you sold these junk bonds to are listed as Speculative Investors. Junk-bonds are the one of highest-risk
investment.
*What happens if GWG does file Chapter 7 Bankruptcy?
*RED FLAGs you should have caught. GWG stop buying new life policies in 2019 (made there no market for the L Bonds) GWG missed their annual report in 2020, SEC investigation into GWG 2020. If you were doing your Due Diligence shouldn't have known something was wrong? You didn't need a "crystal ball" you just needed to do what you told your clients that you do and act in their best interest.

My last question to you Michael is when YOU knew GWG missed their annual report in the early part of 2020 why didn't you investigate "WHY". Did you look into their company at all?
You had from 1/2020 to 12/2021 to get out, did you give your clients opportunity to sell their bonds even if there was a penalty to sell them? Because these bonds are not sold on the open market, they had to rely solely on you to get out during the open window.

How many clients are holding GWG with you, you once bragged that you have about have $10 million in GWG, to me that means you must have hundreds of clients holding their breath trusting in you that they will get their money back.

Last thing that really gets me is you don't want us to trust the facts the lawyers (you called them lying and misleading) are saying but didn't you in fact send an email to your clients from Newbridge lawyers about how you and Newbridge will come back and sue anyone that sues the two of you, that you will come back and sue them if GWG somehow comes out of this, can you explain that email?

I am not trying to beat a dead horse here, but I truly don't think you are being 100% up front with your clients or did you just turn a blind eye.

GWG going bankrupt after so many warning signs were the straw that broke the camel's back for me. I liquidated my accounts with Michael L Whitaker with the exception of GWG and FS. FS I found out can not be sold. What a surprise, Michael L Whitaker put a person nearly 80 years old in a stock that cannot be sold. The exception is a third-party sale at a greatly reduced price. Fiduciary I don't think so.

I am sorry you lost money, there another product that Michael sold you FS, what is that?

The plot thickens:
Michael L. Whitaker is, apparently, the father of Michael J. Whitaker. The father has 4 disclosures of negligence and breach of fiduciary duty. The son has 3 disclosures. Two are for negligence and breach of fiduciary duty and the third is for battery and witness tampering. It appears that both are replying to this post. As such, both sold these highly speculative, high risk bonds to retired seniors. Due to potential litigation, my guess is that answers to our posts may not be forthcoming.

Without any details, i think it would be speculative to assume that just because these high risk investments were sold to retired seniors that Mr Whitaker did something wrong. There are many retired seniors down here with substantial portfolios where a high risk investment may be appropriate given their risk tolerance.

It doesn't make any difference how much money a person has to invest, if they are not properly advised then Whitaker did wrong. In my case there was not much money to be taking risks with and, my wife and I, specifically told Michael L Whitaker that we did not want to be in any high-risk stock, bonds, or anything where we could suffer a loss of principal. I, personally, have been on to Michael L Whitaker for several years when he screwed up my son's meager investment after having been given instructions on his risk tolerance. We even approached Whitaker with our concerns several times and his reply was that our investments were NOT invested at high risk.

I agree with you that those investments should only have been sold to those who can tolerate the risk and potential losses.
I had a client once, of limited resources and income, who was sold tax shelters.
When tax shelters went bust she lost most of her investments.
Once again she trusted a small investment company instead of investing with bigger more reputable firms.
She sued, or went to arbitration, and she lost. The reason she lost was because they determined she was a reasonably intelligent person and should have made herself aware of what she was purchasing?
Did you look at these investments and present any questions to Whitaker…or did you blindly trust him?

If I had to describe Michael L Whitaker and Associates I would say Mike is a smooth talker. By that I mean he is gifted in the way he can present things to you to make you feel confident and assured that he is giving you the right advice for your situation. More than once I had encouraged my wife to question Mike Whitaker about questionable investments and why he was advising her to buy or sell certain investments. As recently as last summer my wife made an appointment with Mike Whitaker to explain things and possibly close her accounts with Michael L Whitaker and Associates. I even sat in the car in his parking lot while the one and one half hour meeting went on in his office with my wife. At the end of the meeting, she came out glowing about all the wonderful things he told her he was doing for her, including GWG. About GWG he said NOT to Worry GWG had plenty of assets and we would or should get all of our money back since we were in the number one spot to be reimbursed first from any assets they had. I have heard on this forum that the I-bonds are not the highest but rather the lowest on the list of people that might get some return from GWG.

This morning I got a personal message from Michael Whitaker asking me to go back and post the corrections to the mistruths that I had made on the forum. Yes, he guessed who I was by my tag MDFLYER since he knew I was a corporate helicopter pilot and from Maryland. I made no mistruths and will not make any corrections.

Why werent u at the meeting with your wife? Is your wife more financially astute than you? Or are you like so many spouses…not insulting you…who give up total control of the finances?

It appears that Mr. Whitaker has chosen not to answer our questions. Crickets are chirping, Mr. Whitaker. Your silence speaks volumes. The OP can file a formal complaint via the FINRA website. Google “File a FINRA Broker Complaint”. Scroll to the FINRA.org website.
Also, the following link describes another financial advisor in The Villages that was aggressively selling these high-risk L-bonds to seniors and ended up with around 17 disclosures and at least 12 SEC awards.
Mr. Whittaker settled one disclosure complaint for $14,999, according to the FINRA website. I suspect Mr. Whitaker is going to have his hands full defending the sale of these bonds as a precedent has been arbitrated.

Complaint Filed Against National Securities in The Villages, Florida Over Mark Cline’s Sale of GWG L Bonds - EIN Presswire

Let's just say that my understanding of finances and financial advisors is more finely tuned. We discussed it all prior to the meeting and I knew that I was not going to like the outcome. After several meetings between the three of us or with Mike and his associates, I knew what he was going to say.

Count us in for two with FINRA. Found out today that Michael charged my wife a fee to sell off our other bad investments that he put us in. Some nerve...............

If u are financially astute..why did u buy what he suggested? I agree, in principle, he probably advised people incorrectly…but it is the responsibilty of those that invest to carefully review wht is suggested.

Why did I buy what he suggested? People paid me to fly them around in airplanes and helicopters and for some 30-plus years, they safely got what they paid for. I paid for advice to someone I thought would tell me the facts about products I could invest in and would comply with the risk factor I informed them of. Instead, as it turns out Michael L Whitaker and Associates had high commissions in mind and not my risk tolerance when advising me to purchase GWG, FS, and other high risk investments.

Whitaker has stated, in a private message to me, that he will not respond and lower himself to the level we are. He cannot admit, with positive answers, to the questions you ask because then Michael L Whitaker and Associates would not have any defense when FINRA comes knocking on his door.

[QUOTE=MDFlyer;2205145]This morning I got a personal message from Michael Whitaker asking me to go back and post the corrections to the mistruths that I had made on the forum. Yes, he guessed who I was by my tag MDFLYER since he knew I was a corporate helicopter pilot and from Maryland. I made no mistruths and will not make any corrections.[

Let’s hope that the Whittaker’s have a large Errors and Omissions insurance policy.

From the looks of his record of FINRA reports, I am sure he does. Once the GWG case is settled and the people Mike Whitaker has told not to worry GWG has plenty of money to settle the amount plus interest, start finding out they will get little or no return, FINRA lines will be very busy with people filing complaints.

Has any of Mike Whitaker's clients gotten emails from Mike explaining, falsely, why he is or has not been acting as a fiduciary for them? I think he may be trying to ward off clients from filing complaints.

It is imperative that prior to hiring a financial advisor you first visit the FINRA website and click on the brokercheck tab. For those that currently have an advisor, I encourage you to perform the same search. Many fiduciary advisors have no disclosures or you may be shocked at what you find. The Whitaker firm website lists a total of three Whitaker’s. Between the three, they have a total of 13 disclosures. This is a huge red flag and, IMO, should immediately remove this firm from consideration. Lack of due diligence can be hazardous to your wealth.