SEC charges California RIA with stealing more than $2.2 million

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Carlsbad, California-based investment adviser Mark J. Boucher and his company, Strategic Wealth Advisor Group Services, with misappropriating more than $2.2 million from advisory clients.

The agency is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest and civil penalties.

According to the SEC’s complaint, from 2010 to 2020, Boucher made unauthorized transfers from client accounts to his own accounts, used client funds to pay his credit card bills, and forged a client’s signature on checks.

According to the complaint, Boucher also attempted to conceal his misappropriations, including forging a letter, purportedly from a client from whom Boucher misappropriated over $1.5 million in trust funds, in an attempt to convince SEC staff that the client had gifted him the funds a few days before she died.

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