Financial Adviser

Charles Lepone, 46, of Richboro, a financial adviser with a passion for basketball, died Wednesday of cancer at St. Mary Medical Center in Middletown Township. He had been employed for six years by Lincoln Financial Advisors of Allentown. Before that, he spent several years as a financial adviser for the Aid Association for Lutherans, which is based in Appleton, Wis. "His special interest was basketball, especially watching his sons play," said his wife of 24 years, Deborah M. Gill Lepone.

A once-high-living South Jersey financial adviser who has lost his home and has lived in the Gloucester County Jail since July pleaded guilty yesterday to bilking his clients for more than $2 million. A gaunt Michael Tropiano, 36, of Haddonfield, appeared in federal court in Camden to sign the required documents admitting his guilt so a sentencing date could be set. Tropiano told U.S. District Judge Joseph H. Rodriguez that he convinced more than 100 investors that he was making them money by shrewd dealings in commodities.

David Beaver, 92, formerly of Bala Cynwyd, a retired sales representative and financial adviser who won a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for his service in World War II, died June 11 of prostate cancer at Villa Valencia, a retirement community in Laguna Hills, Calif. Mr. Beaver grew up on a farm in Hightstown, N.J., and in New York City and earned a bachelor's degree from City College of New York. During World War II, he served in the Army Corps of Engineers in the South Pacific.

Helen Satinsky Splaver, a retired financial adviser, writer, and artist, died March 12 at the Watermark at Logan Square, three weeks before her 101st birthday. For more than a decade, until retiring in the mid-1970s, Mrs. Splaver was a top sales agent for Renyx Field & Co., a securities dealer specializing in mutual funds. She was dismayed when she found out that despite her success, men in the office were paid more, said a daughter, Meg Groff. Besides confronting sexism at work, Mrs. Splaver taught courses for the American Jewish Congress on how to respond to bigots, and cochaired a defense committee for a black union organizer jailed on false charges in Georgia.

Few professions have grown as fast as financial planning. From several thousand practitioners nationwide in the late 1970s, the number of individuals calling themselves financial planners, or some derivative, has exploded to 200,000 to 300,000 today. They are everywhere: Insurance companies have sprouted financial-planning departments, stock-brokerage firms tout the virtues of their financial consultants. Most major banks have hired financial planners. And thousands of lawyers and accountants have added personal finance to their lists of skills.

Breda Hickey Stout always had a funny feeling about Frank Gruttadauria. She closed her account with the Lehman Bros. stockbroker a few years ago, but others in her family fell victim to Gruttadauria's alleged scheme that federal authorities said bilked at least $125 million from his clients. Her mother-in-law, Golda Stout, of Elgin, Ill., lost as much as $2.5 million in what federal investigators say is the largest fraud ever by a single broker. "I thought I'd seen just about everything, but this is just off the charts," said Jacob Zamansky, a securities lawyer in New York who handles investor complaints.

A Woodbury financial adviser has been barred by the state from working in the securities industry in New Jersey after defrauding small investors out of $500,000. State officials announced yesterday that Gary Tunnicliffe cannot work for any investment firm, sell securities, or work as an adviser again. Tunnicliffe, 47, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Camden in January to more than three years in jail after pleading guilty to the scheme. He also was required to pay $541,047 in restitution to his victims, some of whom had trusted him with their life savings.

A high-profile Canadian financial adviser accused of bilking his clients out of $12 million was arrested Wednesday night at Montgomery Hospital's psychiatric unit after Toronto detectives received a tip that he had fled here. Police said Patrick Joseph Kinlin, 53, left Toronto sometime during the last two weeks and checked himself into Montgomery Hospital after learning that a complaint had been filed against him with the Ontario Securities Commission. Kinlin, who once lived in Allentown and Hatfield, still has several relatives and friends in the region, police said.

Despite lingering questions about a potential conflict of interest, the Chester County commissioners are expected to award their financial-adviser contract to Lucien Calhoun of Delaware County. Calhoun, a principal in the firm of Calhoun, Baker Inc., is also the executive director of the Delaware Valley Regional Finance Authority, an agency that lends money to governments at rates below the cost of a bond issue. As director of that agency, Calhoun earns $2 for every $1,000 of new loans made.

A South Jersey financial adviser once known for his extravagant lifestyle was sentenced yesterday to five years in federal prison for swindling millions of dollars from more than 100 of his clients. Michael Tropiano, 36, of Haddonfield pleaded guilty last October to bilking investors of more than $2 million, by convincing 118 of his clients to invest in commodity futures while he diverted the funds into his personal accounts. Federal prosecutors charged Tropiano, who operated Ardmore Financial Services, with violating the mail-fraud statute.

Will the stock market adage "sell in May and go away" prove to be a profitable strategy again in 2012? Not according to one market prognosticator. For the last two years, selling in May would have helped investors. In 2010, the stock market peaked on April 23. And last year, it hit its high on April 29, according to research from Wells Capital Management, a division of Wells Fargo. In the first quarter of 2012, the S&P 500 gained 12.6 percent, its largest first-quarter gain in 14 years.

A real hero would not toot his own horn day in and day out. He would not use the situation for political gain. He would not spike the football over and over. Any real American, especially those of us who witnessed 9/11, would have made the obvious choice to go after Bin Laden. This whole situation has nothing to do with President Obama being courageous. Obama wants us all to think he is Mr. Wonderful and ever so clever by twisting Mitt Romney's words just so he can have something to run for president on and show himself in a better light.

The City of Philadelphia on Monday moved a step closer to divesting Philadelphia Gas Works by issuing a request for proposals from financial advisers to guide the city through a sale. The request sets a deadline of May 21 for proposals and anticipates that a contract would be signed by July 1 with a financial adviser. The move was anticipated after Lazard Freres & Co. L.L.C. told the city in February that the 176-year-old utility, the nation's largest municipal natural-gas utility, might sell for as much as $1.85 billion and net the city as much as $496 million.

DEAR ABBY: My wife and I are 50-year-old professionals who paid the cost for our two daughters' four-year college educations. Our oldest, "Lana," went on to law school and has incurred well in excess of $100,000 in law-school-loan debt. She has struggled to find a job as an attorney, and I'm no longer sure she still wants to practice law. Lana is married to a medical student who also has significant student-loan debt. I made the mistake of telling Lana that her mother and I would help her pay off her student loans.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - For Randy Lewis, Thursday wasn't about posting any kind of score. He'd already won by just getting here. And hey, his 81 did leave him tied with 1982 Masters champion Craig Stadler, albeit for the second-highest total on the leaderboard after 18 holes of the season's first major, Lewis' first as a professional. Still . . . "That's my all-time favorite 81, without a doubt," Lewis said. "This is a dream come true. I mean, what can be bad about a sunny day at Augusta in the first round of the Masters?

Despite the best intentions, retirees make the same money mistakes over and over again. If you don't break the pattern of financial neglect, your money may not hold up. Here's a look at some errors and how to avoid them: Being too conservative with money. Treasury bonds, certificates of deposit, and other savings instruments with scant yields can give retirees a false sense of security. They guarantee some income, however small, and can provide soothing protection from dizzying stock market volatility.

ViroPharma Inc. , an Exton specialty-pharmaceutical developer, has elected Julie H. McHugh to its board. She is chief operating officer of Endo Pharmaceuticals Holdings Inc. and was chief executive officer of Nora Therapeutics Inc. McHugh also was company group chairman for Johnson & Johnson's Worldwide Virology Business Unit and president of Centocor Inc., a J&J subsidiary.     Formula Pharmaceuticals , a privately held Berwyn company founded in 2009 that develops oncology drugs, has appointed Martyn Greenacre to its board.

CDR Financial Products Inc ., a financial adviser to states and cities, and its founder, David Rubin , pleaded guilty to federal fraud and conspiracy charges last month in New York. Prosecutors accused them of rigging municipal- bond sales so taxpayers in New York and other unnamed states paid extra to raise billions for government projects. CDR faces fines of up to $100 million; Rubin faces up to 35 years in prison. Rubin's firm is based in Beverly Hills, Calif., but in the early 2000s, it had clients across the United States, including Democratic-run states such as California, New Mexico, New York, and, at the time, Pennsylvania.

At this season of thanks, you may have joined millions of Americans showing appreciation for the good health, happiness and love in your family. Polls show that in the hard times of the last few years, people have grown increasingly appreciative of these elements in their lives as financial matters have become shakier. In fact, in polls, people are stressing the importance of keeping themselves healthy, and a Gallup poll showed more exercising regularly last year than the prior year.

As Occupy Wall Street protests draw attention to the struggles of young adults, among others, some parents are determined to spare their children the burden of college loans. Many worry about the college funds they have been able to build. Last quarter, the average mutual fund that invests in stocks lost 17 percent. The average 529 college-savings plan, which invests in a mixture of stocks and bonds, lost 8.9 percent, according to a recent Morningstar 529 plan study. But you might have more control than you think, if you pay attention to a few details.