Investment News reports: SEC says RIA used client money to pay settlement.
*An RIA is a registered investment advisor.
Investment adviser Jacob Cooper and his firm, Total Wealth Management, face a fresh set of fraud charges after they attempted to use client funds to settle an earlier fraud case with the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a new complaint filed Wednesday.
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed the charges against Mr. Cooper and his San Diego-based firm after, according to the complaint, they misused investor money for the original settlement and defrauded clients through unexplained “administrative” fees.
The SEC is alleging that Mr. Cooper charged some of the Total Wealth Management investors between $3,500 and $7,500 in “administrative fees" to pay his legal costs and the settlement arising from his prior fraudulent activities. Mr. Cooper has an expansive view of what constitutes "admin fees." Fortunately for Mr. Cooper, his days in financial services may be over and he can pursue a career writing fiction.
Mr. Cooper has stated that he is in a period of “deep financial stress,” and that he has “no income” and “no job opportunities,” according to the complaint.
He has been writing fantasy novels, however, including one published last July called "Circle of Reign (The Dying Lands Chronicle Book 1)."
Total Wealth Management had about $103 million in assets under management and 773 client accounts, according to its Form ADV from December. The firm found clients through a weekly radio show Mr. Cooper hosted and through free lunches, the SEC said.
"Book 1" suggests Rehum does not die of dehydration while lying oddly in a rain forest with his mouth open, hoping several droplets of water will find him. If only Cooper is as good at writing fantasies as he is at managing money, all will have been for the best.
