The Securities and Exchange Commission has barred the chief compliance officer of a broker-dealer from the industry for aiding his brothers' securities fraud scheme.
According to the SEC's March 24 order, the fraudulent offering was conducted by three Quigley brothers: William, Michael and Brian. William served as director of compliance at Trident Partners, a registered broker-dealer in Long Island, New York, from June 2004 through September 2005 and again from October 2007 until September 2014.
During the relevant period, William was also the firm's anti-money laundering officer, the SEC states. In a parallel criminal action, he was recently sentenced to six months in prison over his role in the scheme.
The SEC charges that the respondent used his "privileged position as a broker-dealer's chief compliance officer to create accounts and move funds without supervision," noted Cipperman Compliance Services, in commenting on the order. "The SEC asserts that he created 'house' accounts and mis-labeled wires to hide the scheme. The SEC charges that the CCO thereby aided and abetted violations of the anti-fraud, reporting, and books and records rules."
The two other brothers solicited investors to purportedly invest in various securities, including well known "blue chip" issuers as well as "start-up" companies supposedly were on the verge of going public, according to the order.
Michael and Brian "never purchased any of the offered securities for the investors, and the claims of imminent public offerings were lies. All of the investors' funds were misappropriated by the Quigleys, including William Quigley."
