The founder and owner of the Parrish Group, an investment advisory firm in Washington, D.C., continuously misled potential clients about the number of managed assets the firm held, the names of its clients, the number and names of its employees, and even whether it was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to SEC charges released this week.
Daryl Davis founded the Parrish Group in 2007, and while he held a FINRA Series 6 license until July 2003, he has not held any securities licenses since then. In a brochure the firm created to attract clients, the group claimed to manage more than $1 billion in assets, though it had never managed any significant assets, the SEC asserted.
Davis also claimed the firm employed 14 people, though at its height the firm had only two (including Davis), the SEC says. The overview named three different people who purportedly held several top roles at the company; none of the three individuals filled these or any other roles at the firm. Finally, Davis claimed that Parrish Group clients included a “prominent business executive, professional athlete, pension and employee health system.” According to the SEC, none of these people or entities were ever clients of the firm.
In January 2018, Davis reached out to a professional athlete receiving nonadvisory services from the Parrish Group about opening an investment advisory account, according to the SEC. The athlete reportedly asked Davis what registrations the group held, and Davis responded that the group was registered with the SEC as an investment advisor. The firm has not been registered with the SEC since 2008.
The Parrish Group has been censured, and Davis has been barred from the industry. They must pay civil penalties of $184,767.