(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a former registered representative and investment adviser in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with operating a long-running offering fraud.<\/p>\n
The SEC\u2019s complaint alleges that Douglas P. Simanski raised over $3.9 million from approximately 27 of his brokerage customers and investment advisory clients, many of them retired or elderly, by telling them that he would invest their money in either a \u201ctax free\u201d fixed rate investment, a rental car company, or one of two coal mining companies in which Simanski claimed to have an ownership interest. He allegedly told the investors to write checks payable to personal bank and brokerage accounts he opened in his wife\u2019s name. The complaint alleges that instead of investing the money as he promised, Simanski largely used the money to repay other investors and for his personal use. According to the complaint, Simanski\u2019s scheme collapsed when one of his clients contacted the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Simanski admitted his scheme to his employer.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis matter highlights the need for retail investors \u2013 and retirees and elderly individuals in particular \u2013 to remain skeptical of investments that sound too good to be true and confirm that investments recommended by brokers and investment advisers are approved for sale by their respective brokerage or advisory firms before transferring funds,\u201d said Kelly L. Gibson, Associate Regional Director for Enforcement in the SEC\u2019s Philadelphia Regional Office.<\/p>\n
In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office for the Western District of Pennsylvania today announced that Simanski pleaded guilty to criminal charges.<\/p>\n
The SEC\u2019s complaint, filed in federal court in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, charges Simanski with violating antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws. Simanski has agreed to settle the charges against him. The settlement, which is subject to court approval, orders injunctive relief and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest.<\/p>\n
Simanski also agreed to the entry of an SEC order that, when entered, will bar him from the securities industry for the rest of his life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a former registered representative and investment adviser in Altoona, Pennsylvania, with operating a long-running offering fraud. The SEC\u2019s complaint alleges that Douglas P. Simanski raised over $3.9 million from approximately 27 of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3,16048,16047],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hedgeco-networks-press-releases","category-hedgeco-news","category-hedgecovest-news","category-insider-trading-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66502","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66502"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66502\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66503,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66502\/revisions\/66503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}