Connecticut banking regulators have ordered a Norwalk-based investment adviser to cease operations and are moving to revoke the firm’s registration after finding what they described as a pattern of compliance failures, including hiring a convicted Ponzi schemer as a paralegal.
The state Banking Commissioner issued a cease and desist order Jan. 14 against J. Davenport Advisors LLC and its owner John F. Davenport, according to a 21-page enforcement document.
The commissioner also announced plans to revoke both the firm’s investment adviser registration and Davenport’s individual registration, and to impose fines of up to $100,000 per violation.
The enforcement action follows two examinations and an investigation by the Securities and Business Investments Division of the state Department of Banking.
Among the most serious findings: Davenport is accused of hiring a former broker-dealer agent who operated a Ponzi scheme from 2012 to 2019 and served 42 months in federal prison for securities fraud.
The individual, identified in the order only as “Individual A,” was hired in September 2022 as a paralegal for Davenport’s law firm, which shares office space with the investment advisory firm.
During an examination in August 2025, division staff found unlocked file cabinets containing investment advisory client files, Post-It notes with login and password information visible in the office, and account forms within easy access of any employee, according to the order.
The order also alleges Davenport misrepresented fees charged to at least four clients.
Further, the firm is accused of providing investment advisory services to at least one client from June 2024 through November 2025 without having a fully executed contract on file, regulators said. For three other clients, contracts signed by clients in January 2024 were allegedly not signed by the firm until November 2025 — immediately after the division requested copies.
Davenport allegedly also failed to accurately disclose an IRS tax lien on required filings, stating the lien was for $949,310 when it actually totaled $1,828,159, according to the order.
Davenport’s law license was administratively suspended six times between 2012 and 2024. According to the order, he violated state statutes by failing to disclose those suspensions to the Statewide Grievance Committee.
During testimony in August 2024, Davenport told investigators he did not understand what it meant to file a correcting amendment to documents filed with the commissioner and did not know how to do so, the order states. He also testified he had not read the firm’s written policies and procedures.
J. Davenport Advisors, located at 800 Connecticut Ave. in Norwalk, was registered as an investment adviser from October 2023 to Dec. 31, 2025, when its registration expired due to failure to renew. Davenport has been registered as an investment adviser agent at various times since 2007 and has practiced law in Connecticut since 1994.
Both Davenport and J. Davenport Advisors have 14 days from receipt of the notice to request a hearing, which is tentatively scheduled for April 7. If no hearing is requested, or if the respondents fail to appear, the allegations will be deemed admitted and the cease and desist order will become permanent, the commissioner said.
An attorney for Davenport did not respond to a request for comment.
