The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has fined and suspended a rep for failing to disclose to his firm, LPL, that he was earning money through a series of side hustles such as teaching and advising a hedge fund.

Between 2019 and July 2021, Gregory E. Collins, a registered general securities representative and general securities principal at LPL, earned money in five separate business ventures. He requested permission for two of them, was denied, and participated in them anyway, Finra said.

One of his side gigs was working as a strategic advisor to a hedge fund. In that capacity, Collins provided investment advice as well as other services to the fund. In exchange, he received $5,000 per month, according to Finra’s complaint. 

He started working for the hedge fund in 2019 but did not tell LPL about his relationship with it until 2020; even then, he claimed to be serving only as a consultant. Finra said that even though the association was prohibited, Collins continued to work with the hedge fund until LPL launched an internal investigation in June 2021 and discovered his work.

Collins was also involved with a website he created in 2017 whose purpose was to sell financial education courses. In December 2019, two years after its creation, he sought approval from LPL for the site, but it was denied, Finra said.

Despite LPL’s denial, Collins continued to keep the website until July 2021, Finra said. “He had a reasonable expectation of compensation from the website because it offered financial education courses to the public for a fee.”

There were three other outside businesses that Collins engaged in that he never disclosed to LPL. Between 2019 to July 2021, he worked as a lecturer in finance at two universities and at a retail distributor. In all three, he earned compensation for his speaking appearances.

In total from all five of the businesses, Collins earned $150,000. Finra said he submitted two false compliance statements to LPL claiming that he had disclosed all his outside business ventures.

The agency fined him $12,500 and suspended him for six months from associating with any of its members in any capacity.