WASHINGTON - The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a New York City-based financial advisor with fraud, saying he stole at least $20 million from customers who were told their money would be invested in municipal bonds when it actually evaporated in riskier trades.
The SEC alleged that Michael Oppenheim, 48, abused his position as a private client advisor at a global banking firm from which he was fired last month when persuaded at least two customers to withdraw a total of over $12 million out of their accounts on the promise that he would use the withdrawals to purchase safe and secure munis. Instead, the SEC said in its complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan, from 2011 to 2014 Oppenheim bought himself cashier's checks and deposited them into his own brokerage account or an account he controlled in the name of his wife Alexandra. She is also being charged.
"We allege that Oppenheim promised his customers that he would invest their money in safe and secure investments, but he seized their funds and aggressively played the stock market in his own accounts," said Amelia Cottrell, associate director of the SEC's New York Regional Office.
The SEC said in a release that Oppenheim typically lost the money he invested, and that his brokerage accounts currently show minimal balances.
The SEC is asking the court to order a disgorgement of ill-gotten gains from the couple and civil monetary penalties against Oppenheim. The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a parallel criminal investigation against Oppenheim.
