Raymond Gettis is a scammer?
Raymond Gettins
Mr. Gettins is a fraudster that deserves not only to lose his licenses but to be prosecuted criminally.
About Raymond Gettins
Late-stage capitalism has brought us many scam artists whose sole existence relies on the ability to prey on the trust of hard working people looking to do better for their families. Unfortunately for some scammers the only thing that they need to be successful is to appear harmless. Raymond Gettis is a great scammer in that he does not appear as though he could harm a fly but he is extremely dangerous and has been known to defraud hundreds of investors and neighbors alike. As a financial advisor in the Cincinnati Ohio area Gettins has no shortage of people to defraud. He is known for his easy demeanor and calming smile but he should be known for deceptive investment practices and elder abuse.
As director of the United Advisor Group, Gettins has been grooming other financial advisors to maximize profits off of the backs off of unsuspecting clients as well. Gettins is very easy to get on the phone or to respond to emails if you are looking to buy, but if you have a question or concern about your account or investments he is nowhere to be found. Sadly, this is the long con that Gettins has been running for 29 years in the Cincinnati area. Mr. Gettins is a fraudster that deserves not only to lose his licenses but to be prosecuted criminally.
One former client of Gettins shared a meet-cute story of how she first came to call him her advisor. She shared that her husband of 50+ years had just recently passed away and left her with, what she called, a meager inheritance when she met with Mr. Gettins. She shared how charming he was and how he would flash a calming smile that was so comforting to her. She shared that Gettins asked a number of questions about her husband looking to get an idea of what he was like and gave many compliments and condolences during their conversation. She shared that Gettins asked a number of questions about money and estate planning that she had no idea to answer. Given how sweet and charming her new friend Raymond was, she had no problem trusting him to manage her investments going forward. Raymond Gettins was her financial advisor for five years and she would get routine “check in” phone calls from Gettins as well as newsletters and statements. Gettins would always be available for her to walk through the statement and her financial performance. One day, she called to move some money into her checking account and she was told that she did not have the money that she was looking to move. As you can imagine, she was pretty surprised. She went back to her statement and it clearly showed that she had well over the $10,000 that she was trying to transfer to her checking account for the next several months. She shared how challenging it was to get a hold of her advisor, Gettins. When she finally got in contact with him he pretended that he didn’t know her and treated her as if she was a fraudster attempting to get money from him. Gettins was clearly taking advantage of his client as a senior citizen. We have gotten her in contact with the state authorities where an elder abuse claim is currently being filed against Raymond Gettins.
Raymond Gettins accused of defrauding a group of teachers!
Gettins has also been accused of defrauding a group of teachers pooling a small amount of an investment club. A group of Cincinnati teachers approached Mr. Gettins in the spring of 2018 interested in learning more about investing. As the state of Ohio manages teacher retirement funds, the teachers wanted to learn more methods on how they could grow their money. This activity would be educational for them and they were also planning on being transparent with their students to show them how to be more responsible with money. Gettins was eager to work with the teachers and they shared how exciting it was that the plan was to teach young people how to save and invest. Gettins let them know that the amount that they wanted to start their relationship was well below what he would normally take on as a client but, given the educational nature of the relationship, Gettins took them on and claimed that he would manage their funds with no fees. An agreement was made that they would collectively need to raise about $2500 every quarter to invest into the account Gettins would set up for them and he would manage their accounts with no management fees. They shared how kind Gettins was and that they were thrilled to have Gettins join their classes to talk about investing with students at the school. Gettins managed their accounts for about five years before they started seeing large fees being charged to their account. Confused, the teachers reached out to Gettins team who informed them that they should have been charged the management fees all along and that not only are they charging the fees on their currently quarterly statement but that they will be backdating additional charges on the next statements. After arguing with Gettin’s customer service team, they were finally able to get a hold of Gettins after several weeks of unreturned phone calls. Gettins shared that he had to start charging them and that apparently he was not authorized to provide them the deal that he was giving them. Gettins also shared that he would have to charge a premium fee as well given that the amount that they were investing was well below the $50,000 minimum that he requires. The teachers lost all of the gains that they had earned with Gettins with fees. They eventually withdrew, which ironically also cost them hundreds in fees as well.
Are You A Current or Former Client of Raymond Gettins?
Mr Gettins has had a number of current and former clients come together recently to form a class action lawsuit. A spokesman for the group shared that they had recently learned that the United Advisors Group was forming a relationship with Goldman Sachs. The investor group shared that they had reached out Goldman sharing stories of Gettins’ examples of elder abuse, abusive fee structures, and deceptive investment practices. Unfortunately, their testimony did little to dissuade Goldman Sachs from proceeding with their acquisition. Gettins is a crook who should be investigated immediately by the SEC and his license suspended at the very least.
If you are a current or former client of Raymond Gettins and have a story to share about his abusive or deceptive business practices please comment below. We can help get you in contact with the group currently forming a class action complaint against United Advisors Group and Mr. Gettins.