New Hampshire bars former Next Financial broker

investmentnews.com:

Charles C. Kulch, who has been in the crosshairs of state regulators for pumping sales of pricey nontraded real estate investment trusts, last month was barred from selling securities in New Hampshire for allegedly overcharging clients, according to a settlement posted this week on the website of the state’s Bureau of Securities Regulation.

Kulch and his former broker-dealer, Next Financial Group Inc., are on the hook for more than $1 million in penalties: $663,000 in restitution to clients; a fine of $325,000; and $100,000 for the cost of the investigation.

Kulch has been the target of state securities investigators for several years. In 2020, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Galvin said that he had charged Kulch with violations of state securities laws as a result of his alleged practice of overconcentrating customers in illiquid, high-commission products, including nontraded REITs and variable annuities.

According to the New Hampshire order, Kulch was overcharging clients with fees called “consulting service agreements,” or CSAs.

After interviewing former clients and employees, as well as reviewing Next Financial Group’s policies and procedures, the New Hampshire Bureau of Securities Regulation alleged that most of the CSA fees in question were unlawfully charged.

In his settlement with New Hampshire, Kulch neither admitted nor denied the facts alleged in the matter. A call on Thursday morning to his business, Kulch Financial Services, could not be completed.

Kulch has worked in the securities industry in Nashua, New Hampshire, since 1993, and was registered with Next Financial Group from 2006 until 2020, according to his BrokerCheck report. He has 17 disclosure items on his BrokerCheck