The Securities and Exchange Commission has sanctioned three investment
advisory firms for “repeatedly ignoring problems with their compliance
programs,” it said in a statement yesterday.

Modern Portfolio Management, Equitas Capital Advisers
and Equitas Partners have all agreed to settlements in which they
will pay financial penalties and hire compliance consultants.

The authority’s order against Holland, OH-based Modern Portfolio Management
and its owners, G Thomas Damasco and Bryan Ohm, finds that they “failed to
correct ongoing compliance violations at the firm despite prior warnings from
SEC examiners.” They also failed to complete annual compliance reviews in 2006
and 2009 while making misleading statements on MPM’s website and investor brochure,
the SEC said.

MPM, Damasco, and Ohm will pay a total of $175,000 in penalties, and Damasco
and Ohm must complete 30 hours of compliance training. MPM has agreed to
designate someone other than Damasco or Ohm to be its chief compliance
officer and the firm must retain a compliance consultant for three years.

According to the SEC’s orders against New Orleans-based Equitas Capital
Advisers and Equitas Partners - as well as owner David Thomas; chief compliance
officer, Susan Christina; and former owner and chief compliance officer,
Stephen Derby Gisclair - they “failed to adopt and implement written compliance
policies and procedures and conduct annual compliance reviews to satisfy the compliance
rule.”

The firms made false and misleading disclosures about historical
performance, compensation and conflicts of interest, the SEC said, adding that
they “inadvertently yet repeatedly overbilled and underbilled their clients.”

The authority highlighted that many of the violations occurred despite
warnings by its examiners in 2005, 2008 and 2011.

Equitas Capital Advisers and Crescent have reimbursed all overcharged
clients, while Equitas Capital Advisers, Thomas and Gisclair agreed to pay a
total of $225,000 in additional penalties. The Equitas firms have agreed to
censures, the Equitas firms and Crescent have hired independent compliance
consultants, and the Equitas firms and Gisclair must give clients notice of the
SEC enforcement actions.