SMITHFIELD - Correction: Smithfield police sought the assistance of the State Bureau of Investigation, not the FBI as originally reported.

The N.C. Secretary of State's securities division is helping Smithfield police to investigate claims of embezzlement at Market Street Advisors, a financial-planning and insurance firm.

The agency announced Monday that it has suspended Mark Hall's registration to sell securities. The suspension document states that he told Cantella — the company Market Street Advisors was affiliated with — that he took customer funds for personal use.

Detective Lt. Keith Powell said he had asked the District Attorney's Office to request the SBI's help, but now the department is working with the Secretary of State's office and holding off on calling in the SBI. Powell said investigators are looking into complaints from clients of the firm, but he declined to give specifics, citing the ongoing investigation.

Powell said Thursday that the investigation could take months.

Reached at his home last week, Market Street Advisors owner Mark Hall declined to comment on the investigation. On Saturday, an estate sale was held at Hall's house on South Second Street. Items ranged from furniture to TVs to a Christmas tree.

Meanwhile, Boston-based Cantella, which provided Market Street's financial services, severed ties with Hall and Market Street Advisors when the investigation began, Cantella spokesman Joe Finora said Wednesday.

The Market Street Advisors office will close on Sept. 25, but employees Phillip Smith and Scott Hall — Mark Hall's son — will continue to work for Cantella. Smith will operate an office elsewhere in Smithfield and Scott Hall will have an office in Wilmington.

Across the street from the firm, Riverside Coffee Co. shut down around the time the investigation began, and both it and Market Street Advisors are for sale.

But Angie Renfrow, an owner of Riverside, says the closing of the coffee shop was because of "irreconcilable differences" with her business partner, not the police probe of Market Street Advisors.

Renfrow said she and her business partner, Debra Vaicunas, are majority owners of the business. She said Mark and Susan Hall, owners of Market Street Advisors, own a share of Riverside but weren't involved in the decision to close.

"The abrupt closing was not directly related with what happened at Market Street Advisors," Renfrow said. "It just happens to be a coincidence."

The firm has been open since 2003 and has a second office in Wilmington.

Chris Johnson, head of the Downtown Smithfield Development Corp., said he's had several potential buyers interested in the Riverside property, and he said he hopes the business will reopen soon under a new owner. But, he noted, buyers are under no obligation to operate the business in its present form.