Lawing Financial bought by insiders

“Thanks for calling Prime Capital Investment Advisors, formerly Lawing Financial.” That’s the message for callers of Lawing Financial Inc.’s local office, 3259 E. Ridgeview St., and LawingFinancial.com now redirects to PrimeCap-IA.com.

Kerry Lawing, president, CEO and principal owner of Lawing Financial, agreed June 26 to sell the Overland Park, Kansas-based financial services firm he founded in 1985 to four team members. They’ve dropped the Lawing Financial name and rebranded as Prime Capital, with offices in 11 cities, including Springfield.

Tae Kim, chief marketing officer at Prime Capital Investment Advisors, said Brad Lawing, son of Kerry Lawing, is no longer managing director of the local branch or an employee of the company.

“I believe he’s setting up his own shop,” Kim said.

Brad Lawing earlier this year relocated from Kansas City to run the Springfield office. Kim said he could not confirm if Lawing’s exit was before or after the sale.

“Lisa Jones is our new branch manager down there at the Springfield office,” Kim said.

Lawing has been a certified private wealth adviser at LF Wealth Advisors LLC since July, according to his LinkedIn profile. Kerry Lawing’s LinkedIn profile now identifies him as CEO of Prevail Innovative Wealth Strategies LLC in Overland Park. Neither Lawing could be reached for comment, but a news release said Kerry Lawing took his chief operating officer with him and a few other team members to start Prevail Innovative.

New leadership
Jones joined Lawing Financial three years ago as a financial adviser, according to Springfield Business Journal archives. Prior, she worked as a financial services representative for MetLife Resources for eight years and an investment adviser for LPL Financial for four years, according to her LinkedIn profile.

Jones did not return voicemails or emails by press time. 

Two other local advisers listed on Prime Capital’s website are Brandon Lee, who joined Lawing Financial four years ago and transferred to the Springfield office last year, and Richard Baker, who has been with the company eight years. 

The newly formed Prime Capital has over 65 advisers and 20 staff members supporting adviser teams. Officials say the majority of employees moved over from Lawing Financial.

“We are very grateful to Kerry Lawing for the foundation he established for the firm,” said Scott Colangelo, co-owner and CEO of Prime Capital Investment Advisors, in a news release. “Kerry has built a fantastic team of people all focused on delivering the best possible results for our clients. We plan on continuing that tradition of a team-based approach to investing, which has been very successful for our clients.”

Kim said four long-time advisers came together to form the new ownership group at Prime Capital, including the new three-member leadership team: Colangelo, President Timothy Hakes and Executive Director Joe Hildebrand. Colangelo and Hakes were minority owners with Kerry Lawing before the sale, Kim said. Joe Zdeb, an Overland Park adviser with Lawing since 1994, rounds out the ownership.

History in Springfield
Lawing Financial opened its Springfield office in 2008 and expanded through a 2014 purchase of $300 million in advisement assets from Nadia Cavner Group, according to SBJ archives.

The acquisition came after Nadia Cavner lost the ability to sell securities. In April 2013, Cavner pleaded guilty in federal court to a felony interstate stalking charge in Memphis, Tennessee, acknowledging intentions to injure, harass or intimidate her college-age daughter’s ex-boyfriend. That August, Cavner was sentenced to five years of probation.

The Lawing-Cavner deal ended up in court in April 2015, when Lawing Financial sued Cavner for allegedly continuing to contact and pursue its clients after being permanently barred from acting as a broker or selling securities by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Cavner filed a countersuit, and the two parties settled out of court in early 2016 for undisclosed terms.