AG wins injunction against Hingham advisers

State Attorney General Martha Coakley has set restrictions against a Hingham-based business that her office accuses of giving deceptive investment advice to parents on how to save money for their children’s college education.

According to a statement released by her office today, Coakley obtained a preliminary injunction against College Advisors Group, its sister companies, and its operator, Kirk Brown, requiring them to stop using misleading charts and reports, displaying false information on the company website, and charging an $800 fee for work that it has already been paid for.

“Consumers went to Mr. Brown seeking guidance on how to pay for college for their children and instead received misleading advice, leaving many families facing serious financial harm,” Coakley said in the statement.

The court order, signed earlier this week by Judge Thomas Connolly in Suffolk Superior Court, stems from a February 2008 lawsuit alleging that Brown and CAG knowingly sold consumers investments they could not afford.

The injunction requires the company to stop advising customers to purchase unsuitable life insurance policies and to stop accepting fees and kickbacks for business referrals relating to mortgage refinancing.

The company is also required to tell potential customers about the Attorney General’s pending enforcement action.

The complaint alleges that Brown and CAG began misleading consumers in 2003, by promising free advice on the financing a college education. But neither Brown nor anyone at his company is a certified financial planner or advisor, according to Coakley’s office.

"What this Attorney General is writing is completely and entirely without merit and we are definitely going to fight them," said Brown. "We're going to appeal it and then go from there."
(By Jonnelle Marte, Globe Correspondent)