Capital Defender’s Elio Chiarelli Receives GWG Complaint

Gainesville financial advisor Elio Chiarelli (CRD# 5824081) is involved in an investor complaint relating to an investment in GWG L bonds. Records provided by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority indicate that he is a broker with IFP Securities and an investment advisor with Bison Wealth, doing business as Capital Defender Advisors.

Mr. Chiarelli’s BrokerCheck report discloses one investor complaint. Filed in December 2022, it alleges that as a representative of IFP Securities, he failed to conduct adequate due diligence, misrepresented material facts related to the investment’s safety, failed to adequately disclose the risk connected to an investment, and recommended an unsuitable investment in GWG, which has since filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The pending complaint alleges unspecified damages estimated as $200,000 in its disclosure.

The pending complaint’s disclosure states further that both Mr. Chiarelli and the firm, IFP Securities, deny the allegations. It asserts that an internal investigation into the claim was completed in January 2022 and found that “due diligence was performed,” and that “the associated risk complained of was adequately reflected both in person and via documentation provided to and signed for the client.”  It additionally notes that an accurate assessment of alleged damages is “impossible until re-organization of GWG under Chapter 11 proceedings is completed.”

According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Elio Chiarelli holds 12 years of securities industry experience. Based in Gainesville, Florida, he has been a broker with IFP Securities since 2019, an investment advisor with Independent Financial Partners since 2012, and an investment advisor with Bison Wealth since 2023. He does business as Capital Defender Advisors. His credentials include the passage of four securities industry qualifying exams: the Investment Company Products/Variable Contracts Representative Examination, or Series 6; the General Securities Representative Examination, or Series 7; the Securities Industry Essentials Examination, or SIE; and the Uniform Combined State Law Examination, or Series 66. He is licensed in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington. (Information current as of March 7, 2023.)

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