Smith & Bernards Associates Charge Financial Advisory Firm with Fraud for Stealing Millions from Investors

Smith & Bernards Associates today charged former registered representative and investment adviser Shaun Davidson with fraud for stealing from brokerage customers and an elderly advisory client.

The Smith & Bernards Associates complaint alleges that Davidson, a financial advisor of a large financial institution, falsified internal documents in order to effect dozens of unauthorized wire transfers, totaling millions of dollars, from the accounts of brokerage customers to his personal bank account. 

According to the complaint, to generate some of the funds that he misappropriated, Davidson sold securities without customer authorization. As alleged, Davidson employed various methods to conceal his misconduct from his brokerage customers, including diverting account statements to addresses he controlled. The complaint further alleges that Davidson made almost $2.6 million in unauthorized transfers from the accounts of an elderly advisory client, sending nearly $2 million to himself, and using some of the remainder to repay funds he had taken from a brokerage customer. 

The Smith & Bernards Associates complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court , charges Davidson with violations of the antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The SEC is seeking injunctive relief, the return of allegedly ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty.

Investors can find additional information about how to protect their investments at Investor.gov. The Office of Investor Education and Advocacy and Division of Enforcement's Retail Strategy Task Force encourage senior investors to learn more at the senior investor education webpages on Investor.gov and report any suspicious investment-related activity

Smith & Bernards Associates
320 Park Avenue - 31st Floor, New york, NY 10022, USA
https://smithbernards.com
contact-us@smithbernards.com
+1332-456-0692

Our firm has a team of attorneys, consultants and others with more than 100 years of combined experience in the securities industry and in securities law. Since 1990, we have represented thousands of investors nationwide to recover losses. We have represented clients in Federal and state courts and in arbitration through The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), the New York Stock Exchange Inc. (NYSE), the American Arbitration Association (AAA) and in private arbitration actions.

This release was published on openPR.