Beth Kozniak, a CFA candidate, is an independent licensed real estate broker and a well-known property investor. She is currently brokering the sale of a commercial property on behalf of a client in financial distress. If the client’s building is not sold within 30 days, he will lose the building to the bank. A year earlier, another client of Kozniak’s had expressed interest in purchasing this same property. However, she is unable to contact this client, nor has she discovered any other potential buyers. Given her distressed client’s limited time frame, Kozniak purchases the property herself and foregoes any sales commission. Six months later, she sells the property for a nice profit to the client who had earlier expressed interest in the property. Does Kozniak most likely violate the CFA Institute Standards of Professional Conduct?
A is correct because Kozniak does not appear to have violated any CFA Institute Standards of Professional Conduct. Because she is known in the market for investing and brokering property and both parties have worked with Kozniak in the past, both parties would know of her interests. In addition, in both cases she acts for her own account as a primary investor, not as a broker. She buys the property for her own portfolio and then sells the property from her own portfolio. Therefore, Kozniak did not violate Standard VI (A) Disclosure of Conflicts. When she purchased the property for her portfolio, she saved her client from losing the building to the bank and did not charge a sales commission. Because the sale of the property to her other client did not take place until six months after her purchase and she was unable to contact the client who had earlier expressed interest prior to her purchase, she cannot be accused of violating any loyalty, prudence, or care to either client (Standard Ⅲ (A) Loyalty, Prudence, and Care).