Ex-Cetera Advisor Charged With Defrauding Older Client Out of $2.4M

By Jeff Berman

News August 01, 2023 at 03:26 PM

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The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged a former Cetera advisor/broker with allegedly defrauding an older client out of about $2.4 million.

In a complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Friday, the SEC alleged that between December 2021 and March 2022, Clarice Crystal Saw engaged in a fraudulent scheme in which she misappropriated funds from her client while associated with a registered broker-dealer.

The complaint didn't identify the BD by name, but Saw was serving as an advisor/broker for Cetera during the time period specified, according to her report on the SEC's BrokerCheck website.

Cetera didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. But, in a disclosure on Saw's BrokerCheck report dated May 31, 2021, Cetera Investment Services said she voluntarily resigned from the firm.

The complaint also alleges that Saw liquidated all the client's securities holdings without consent, and then transferred all of the investment proceeds to her own personal bank and brokerage accounts.

Saw allegedly used the misappropriated funds to pay for her own personal expenses, according to the complaint, including about $100,000 in car and mortgage payments and thousands of dollars of cash withdrawals, as well as buy securities in her own personal brokerage account.

The SEC seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest and civil penalties.

SEC headquarters. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/ALM