The Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards is now searching for a director of investigations to replace Rex Staples (left), whose last day will be Friday.
Staples, who was appointed CFP Board's top cop in March 2012, headed a nine-person team to enforce the CFP Board's standards of professional compliance.
CFP Board said in a statement that Staples was leaving "to become more involved in complex areas of securities regulation and administration."
At least one published report had linked Staples' upcoming departure with the sudden resignation last fall of Alan Goldfarb, the former chairman of the Board of Directors of the CFP Board, after he was found to have violated the CFP Board's rules of conduct.
The CFP Board said Goldfarb had failed to properly disclose his compensation, and then the CFP Board's Disciplinary and Ethics Commission that investigated the matter issued a public letter of admonition for Goldfarb's conduct.