Springfield financial consultant Nadia Cavner pleaded guilty last week to a felony stalking charge. It is unclear whether the plea will affect her profession, for which she manages assets of roughly $490 million among some 1,100 households.
Cavner, executive vice president and financial consultant for the Nadia Cavner Group at BancorpSouth Investment Services, entered a guilty plea April 12 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee, admitting she engaged in one count of violating the federal interstate stalking statute, according to a U.S. Department of Justice news release.
According to court documents, from July 9, 2011, to Nov. 15, 2011, Cavner and individuals she employed traveled from Springfield to Memphis with the intention to injure, harass or intimidate her daughter's ex-boyfriend and his new girlfriend.
The news release pointed to multiple means of stalking and harassment committed by Cavner. These means stated in open court include:
- making and causing others to make harassing and defamatory phone calls;
- leaving anonymous notes to harass and intimidate the victims;
- having the victims followed;
- hiring individuals to disrupt the relationship of the victims; and
- paying for an associate to move to Memphis temporarily for the purpose of surveilling the victims.
Cavner, who could not be reached for comment by deadline, also is said to have attempted to have electronic listening devices installed in the homes of the victims, according to the release.
Lee Gerald, one of two attorneys representing Cavner, said this morning he was unsure whether the felony charge would affect her work managing clients' investments.
"We have sentencing pending. It would be inappropriate to comment on the evidence. The offense was a personal matter within the confines of family and did not involve her professional career," said Lee, who practices out of Memphis, declining to comment further on the case.
He added Cavner agreed to a sentence of probation in exchange for her guilty plea. He said the probation disallows her from leaving the country but isn't related to her work. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 1, the release said.
The prosecutor, assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Coleman, could not be reached for comment by deadline. Cavner's second attorney, Steven Farese Sr., president of Ashland, Miss-based Farese, Farese & Farese PA, could not be reached. A call seeking general information on financial advisers to the securities division of the Missouri secretary of state's office wasn't returned.
Barron’s 2012 Top Advisor Rankings positions Cavner at No. 11 in Missouri and as the state’s top female adviser, noting her client’s typical net worth is $2 million, according to
Springfield Business Journal archives. Franklin Templeton Investments has ranked her No. 1 in the banking division worldwide.
She has led the Nadia Cavner Group since 2005. She serves as an adviser with Cambridge Investment Research, the brokerage arm of BancorpSouth in Springfield, according to
NadiaCavnerGroup.com.
Randy Burchfield, BancorpSouth senior vice president of corporate communications, said the company is declining to comment on the case at this time.
Cavner's practice - formerly known as The Nadia Cavner Group at The Signature Bank Investment Services - was included in a 2007 merger with BancorpSouth.
Cavner had previously been employed by U.S. Bancorp. She and four other former employees of the company were sued by U.S. Bancorp after they left the company, alleging the employees illegally used confidential client lists - photocopied during summer 2005 by interns and staff at off-site locations - to take business from U.S. Bancorp. The case was dismissed in late 2007, according to
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