Barron's: David Zier's death takes another tragic twist
The Convergent executive's death was likely a suicide related to non-Convergent money managed for family and friends by Zier in a 'personal account'
John
I’m confused… he had 20m in his own account and wasn’t reporting his trades to the BD he worked for? Or he made mistakes on them? That doesn’t sound like something you’d kill yourself over.
brooke southall
My understanding is that he had friends and family money in this account. Whether or not that is cause for killing
yourself?
John
Was he being compensated for his management of this commingled fund? Was he operating an advisory portfolio without registering, much less informing his employer?
brooke southall
I don’t know but I don’t think e was compensated. Zier Asset Management has no ADV if you search. SEC/FINRA rule required him to provide info about his trading in ZAM to his firm and he did, according to my reading.
John
That still doesn’t add up to suicide. Why would he be managing money for people he knows for free? Especially since he’s in the business. As a CEO he knows this is highly irregular and inappropriate outside of his firm’s regulatory reach. You can’t manage other people’s money off the grid like that. You have to be regulated whether you’re being compensated or not. Who’s doing the custody audit to make sure investor rights are being protected… or that the accounting is being done correctly.
