The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Greenville, South Carolina investment adviser Cary Urich with breaching his fiduciary duty to 54 mostly elderly clients. The clients lost approximately 70 percent of the money he placed in leveraged and inverse ETFs held an average of 798 days. Urich worked as an investment adviser representative at United Planners’ Financial Services of America A LP.
What happened in the Cary Urich SEC case
According to the SEC complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Urich used discretionary authority over client accounts from April 2020 to November 2023. He concentrated the savings and retirement funds of 54 advisory clients into five leveraged and inverse ETFs. The products did not match the clients’ investment profiles, objectives, or risk tolerances. His clients averaged 71 years of age, and none of them sought speculative investments.
Under his agreement with United Planners, Urich kept roughly 90 percent of the management fees his clients paid. He reviewed the fund prospectuses and kept SEC and FINRA alerts dating to 2009 in his own due diligence file, the complaint states. Despite reading the warnings, he held the positions for years without telling clients the approach contradicted the prospectuses or that the funds carried a history of negative returns.
Key facts in the SEC complaint against Cary Urich
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Adviser | Cary Edward Urich, 58, Greer, South Carolina |
| Firm | United Planners’ Financial Services of America A LP (Scottsdale, Arizona) |
| Firm size | $12.8 billion in regulatory assets under management |
| Court case | SEC v. Urich, No. 6:26-cv-05267-JDA (D.S.C., filed October 29, 2026) |
| SEC release | Litigation Release LR-26681, October 30, 2026 |
| Conduct period | April 2020 to November 2023 |
| Clients affected | 54 investment advisory clients, average age 71 |
| Products | Five leveraged and inverse ETFs |
| Average holding period | 798 days |
| Client losses | Approximately 70 percent of investments in the products |
| Proposed settlement | $100,000 civil penalty, two-year adviser ban, permanent antifraud injunctions |
The five funds at the center of the case
The complaint identifies every product Urich bought for his clients. Four were inverse ETFs seeking twice the opposite of a major index’s daily performance. The fifth was a volatility fund tied to VIX futures.
| Ticker | Product type | Exposure sought |
|---|---|---|
| SDS | Inverse ETF | -2x the S&P 500 daily |
| DXD | Inverse ETF | -2x the Dow Jones Industrial Average daily |
| TWM | Inverse ETF | -2x the Russell 2000 daily |
| QID | Inverse ETF | -2x the Nasdaq-100 daily |
| UVXY | Leveraged ETF | 1.5x the S&P 500 VIX Short-Term Futures index daily |
Together the five funds reached 72 percent of the market value of accounts Urich managed at the end of 2020, 63 percent at the end of 2021, and 58 percent at the end of 2022. The complaint notes the four inverse funds posted annual negative returns of up to 44 percent from 2009 to 2017. UVXY also posted negative annual returns throughout the period at issue.
What three retirees lost
The complaint describes client accounts by initials. The pattern repeats across them: moderate risk tolerance, growth and income objectives, and six-figure allocations to products designed for single-day trading.
| Client | Age | Invested in the ETFs | Losses | Loss rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E.P. | 93 | ~$1,247,000 | ~$746,000 | 60 percent |
| W.S. | 76 | ~$351,000 | ~$235,000 | 67 percent |
| C.E. | 81 | ~$462,000 | ~$310,000 | 67 percent |
One 93-year-old client held the funds as long as 937 days in a single account. A 76-year-old client closed his account in 2021 after the losses. An 81-year-old client’s ETF positions reached 107 percent of account value because of a negative cash balance.
Why the holding period mattered
Leveraged and inverse ETFs reset their exposure every trading day. Prospectus language warns that holding them beyond short periods increases the risk of losing all or a substantial portion of the investment. Urich’s clients held theirs for more than two years on average.
Daily resets mean losses compound in trending markets. A fund built to deliver a multiple of an index’s daily return can fall far more than that multiple over months. The complaint alleges Urich knowingly, or at least recklessly, disregarded guidance he had read and understood.
Fiduciary duty sits at the center of the SEC’s case. An adviser with discretionary authority must act in the client’s best interest and disclose material facts. The SEC charged Urich under Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
Red flags investors should recognize
Discretionary authority deserves ongoing scrutiny. When an adviser controls a retirement account without regular conversations, concentration risk builds quietly. Elderly investors with income needs rarely belong in products built for day traders.
- An adviser who rarely explains trade reasoning in plain language
- Retirement funds placed in products labeled for one-day holding
- Large positions concentrated in a single product category
- Statements showing the same funds held for years despite prospectus warnings
What affected Urich clients can do now
Clients can pull account statements going back to April 2020 and compare holdings against their stated objectives. The SEC settlement does not automatically compensate victims. Investors can also review adviser records through the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
The SEC instituted settled administrative proceedings against United Planners arising from the same conduct. Urich has worked since January 2024 as an independent contractor for a New York broker-dealer and its affiliated adviser, the complaint states. He holds FINRA Series 4, 7, 63, and 65 registrations, so the proposed two-year adviser ban matters for anyone considering him.
Haselkorn & Thibaut fights for investor recovery
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Contact Haselkorn & Thibaut today
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Frequently asked questions
Who is Cary Urich?
Cary Edward Urich is a 58-year-old investment adviser from Greer, South Carolina, formerly registered as an investment adviser representative with United Planners’ Financial Services of America A LP. The SEC charged him on October 29, 2026 with breaching his fiduciary duty to 54 advisory clients.
How much did Cary Urich’s clients lose?
The SEC complaint states the 54 clients, most of them elderly, lost approximately 70 percent of the money invested in leveraged and inverse ETFs that Urich held for an average of 798 days.
Can Cary Urich’s clients recover their losses?
The SEC’s proposed settlement includes a $100,000 civil penalty but does not compensate victims. Investors who lost money may have claims against the adviser or firm and can consult a securities attorney about arbitration or civil recovery options.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or investment advice.
