Is Portland TV station Enabling a Scammer?

Well, this is certainly a sticky situation for one Sinclair station.

According to The Oregonian, state financial regulators want to ban an investment adviser that has been featured on Sinclair’s KATU (Portland) and billed as a financial expert from the business after determining he put elderly clients into a high-risk real estate deal, misrepresented the safety of the investment, and exposed them to big tax penalties.

David Swanson remains in business while he contests the penalty imposed by regulators.

And he continues to court new customers, thanks in part to his prominent presence on KATU.

While Swanson is surely entitled to due process and fighting the charges leveled by state regulators, you would hope that KATU might limit his appearances on the station’s air while this whole thing plays out?

Swanson even appeared on AM Northwest in the past week to pitch his business. This screenshot was taken From the KATU website with his appearance on the station from last Monday. It appears that Swanson is paying to be on the air in a pay for play role.

This is still going on despite the fact that state financial regulators want him banned from doing business.