In Brief

SMHG BUYS 25% STAKE IN IPRO ONESanders Morris Harris Group, a financial services holding company, has acquired a 25 percent ownership interest in iPro One, a company that provides CPA practices with investment systems and products. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. IPro One has exclusive contracts with more than 1,000 CPA firms that provide investment products and services to clients. The company has signed letters of intent to purchase interests in CPA-affiliated advisory firms in several locations with a total of more than $1.5 billion in assets under management.

If the transactions are completed, SMHG expects its total assets under management will increase to $17.3 billion. It currently has $15.8 billion in total assets under management.

With the extra investment from SMHG, iPro One intends to expand operations by acquiring ownership interests in the revenue streams that the CPAs and financial advisors get from their pools of assets under management. IPro One anticipates signing additional letters of intent with CPA firms as it expands its acquisitions nationwide. The company also expects to offer SMHG's wealth management and financial planning services to financial advisors and their clients.

SEC TACKLES FORMER NFL PLAYER

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Dwight Sean Jones, a former NFL player turned investment advisor, with failing to produce the business records for his advisory firm, Amaroq Asset Management, or allow them to be examined. Jones said that all his records had either been destroyed in a fire or sold by his storage company.

At one point, Jones claimed to manage more than $40 million for his clients, most of them athletes. Before his career as an investment advisor, Jones played for the Los Angeles Raiders, the Green Bay Packers and the Houston Oilers from 1984 to 1997. According to the SEC, Jones claimed that Amoroq went out of business in 2004, but he maintained the firm's Web site until mid-2007 while publicizing Amoroq's wealth management programs.

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