SEC accuses investment advisor of stealing $5M from clients

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Friday it has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York charging an investment adviser representative with stealing approximately $5 million from client accounts by initiating unauthorized wire transfers and issuing checks to third parties to cover personal expenses. The SEC alleges that Barry Connell, who worked in the New Jersey office of an unnamed major financial institution, conducted more than 100 unauthorized transactions by using falsified authorization forms misrepresenting that he received verbal requests from the clients.