Ex-LPL Broker Pleads Guilty to Investment Fraud
From the Desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law Offices:
Blake Richards, a former broker for LPL Financial LLC, will pay more than $1.9 million in restitution to his clients to resolve an SEC fraud suit against him.
According to the SEC, since 2008, Richards misappropriated approximately $2 million from at least six investors, who typically handed over to him their retirement savings or life insurance proceeds from deceased spouses.
Richards instructed the investors to write out checks to one of two entities called “Blake Richards Investments” or “BMO Investment”. He told investors he would put their funds in fixed-income assets, variable annuities and other securities, but never did so. He then "siphoned off" their money for his personal use.
FINRA barred Richards from the industry in September, 2013.
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Tags: LPL Financial, SEC, James Eccleston, Eccleston Law