Wade Cook Financial Blasted By State Officials

Washington’s top securities regulator says a claim that she endorses a program sold by a Woodinville investment company is ridiculous.

A Wade Cook Financial Corp. subsidiary lifted remarks she made to a reporter in Pennsylvania out of context to fabricate an endorsement for “Wealth U,” a new education program, said Deborah Bortner, head of the state Securities Division.

In a Wednesday news release announcing the program, Stock Market Institute of Learning Inc. quotes Bortner describing the company’s classes as “absolutely the most successful” of the financial seminars offered in the country based on attendance.

“Nobody else comes close,” the Cook release quotes Bortner.

Bortner said Friday the quotes are accurate, but came in response to a question from an “Allentown Morning Call” reporter asking why officials in so many states are investigating Wade Cook Financial.

The quotes have nothing to do with Wealth U, she said. “I’ve never even heard of it.”

She said Wade Cook Financial is under investigation in 10 states for potential violations of consumer protection laws. Litigation has already been filed by Texas and California authorities.

In Washington, Bortner said, Wade Cook Financial is trying to block an investigation by asking a King County Superior Court judge to rule that the company is not an investment adviser.

Adviser claims about investment performance are carefully scrutinized to assure that consumers can accurately compare results, she said.

Wade Cook Financial was advertising returns as high as 30 percent per month, but state officials were unable to confirm anything near that number, Bortner said.

The company has since backed off its claims, she said, but the state continues to look into possible consumer protection law violations.

Bortner said she never endorses products. “That is just something we wouldn’t do.”

Her boss, Department of Financial Institutions Director John Bley, also blasted the Wade Cook Financial claim in a statement Thursday.

“I find it completely outrageous that the company would quote the director of my Securities Division as endorsing one of their products,” he said, adding the announcement was a surprise.

A spokesman for Wade Cook Financial said the company had not yet formulated a response to the statements by Bortner and Bley.