Cary Urich: SEC Fines Ex-United Planners’ Advisor $100K

Greenville, South Carolina financial advisor Cary Urich (CRD# 2132001) was recently charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission with allegedly breaching his fiduciary duty in connection with the sale of exchange-traded funds. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority records show that he is registered as a broker with Vanderbilt Securities and an investment advisor with Consolidated Portfolio Review.

An SEC litigation release published on October 30, 2026 describes the agency’s charges against Mr. Urich. It alleges that as a representative of United Planners’ Financial Services, he breached his fiduciary duty when he “used his discretionary authority over the accounts of 54 investment advisory clients—most of whom were elderly—to put large concentrations of those clients’ savings and retirement funds into complex leveraged and/or inverse ETFs that did not suit the clients’ investment profiles, objectives, or risk tolerances.”

These investments’ prospectuses cautioned against investing in them for more than one day, the SEC alleges, stating further that Mr. Urich allegedly “held the products in client accounts for an average of 798 days” despite these warnings. He allegedly failed to disclose to the clients that he held their positions in manners that were inconsistent with the holding periods recommended in the prospectuses, and additionally “failed to disclose the negative historical returns associated with these investments.” According to the SEC’s charges, a total of 54 clients allegedly suffered losses of about 70% of their investments. Without admitting to the allegations, Mr. Urich consented to a final judgment that enjoined him from further violations, prohibited him from acting as an investment advisor for two years, and imposed a penalty of $100,000. The judgment is subject to court approval.

Mr. Urich’s BrokerCheck report discloses two investor complaints. The most recent, filed in 2024, alleged that as a representative of United Planners’ Financial Services, he recommended unsuitable exchange-traded funds, breached his fiduciary duty, acted negligently, and engaged in deception. The complaint reached a settlement of $325,000.

An earlier investor complaint, filed in 2022, alleged that as a United Planners’ representative, he made material misrepresentations and omissions, engaged in “wrongful acts and self-dealing,” breached his fiduciary duty, recommended unsuitable investments, and violated FINRA Rules 2111 and 3030. In 2023 the complaint reached a settlement of $450,000.

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Cary Urich holds 35 years of securities industry experience. Based in Greenville, South Carolina, he has been registered as a broker with Vanderbilt Securities since 2024 and an investment advisor with Consolidated Portfolio Review since 2025. His past registrations include United Planners’ Financial Services of America, H. Beck, Raymond James Financial Services, JJB Hilliard WL Lyons, Quick & Reilly, and Merrill Lynch. His credentials include the passage of nine securities industry qualifying exams: the General Securities Sales Supervisor Examination (Options Module & General Module), or Series 8; the General Securities Sales Supervisor – Options Module Examination, or Series 9; the General Securities Sales Supervisor – General Module Examination, or Series 10; the Registered Options Principal Examination, or Series 4; the General Securities Representative Examination, or Series 7; the Futures Managed Funds Examination, or Series 31; the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; the Uniform Securities Agent State Law Examination, or Series 63; and the Uniform Investment Adviser Law Examination, or Series 65. He holds 14 state licenses. (Information current as of November 1, 2026.)

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