The SEC is charging Reliance Financial Advisors and its co-owners Walter F. Grenda Jr. and Timothy S. Dembski with securities fraud. The agency says that the Buffalo, NY-based investment advisory firm and the two men misled clients when recommending that they get involved in a hedge fund managed by portfolio manager Scott M. Stephan.
Grenda and Dembski of Reliance Financial Advisors guided senior investors toward making highly speculative investments in the Prestige Wealth Management Fund, which Stephan managed, even though they allegedly knew he was inexperienced in this type of investing. The clients, who were either close to retirement, retired, or living on fixed incomes, collectively invested around $12 million.
Stephan was supposedly going to employ a trading strategy that involved a specific computer “algorithm,” which actually only day traded. Instead, he started making trades manually, his approach eventually playing a part in the hedge fund’s failure. The SEC has said that Stephan’s investing experience was greatly exaggerated in offering materials. (The majority of his career involved collecting car loans that were overdue.)
In late 2012, when the fund did not make the positive returns that were anticipated, Grenda pulled out his clients. When the fund failed, losing around 80% of its value, Dembski’s clients lost most of what they invested.
The SEC’s Enforcement Division also alleges that in 2009, Grenda borrowed $175,000 from two clients, claiming it was a business loan when he used the funds for personal spending. The agency is accusing Grenda, Dembski, and Reliance Financial Advisors of violating provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and the Securities Act of 1933.
In another order, Stephan consented to settle findings accusing him of violating the antifraud provisions of the three acts, as well as abetting, aiding and causing violations of these provisions by Prestige Wealth Management Fund’s general partner. He consented to a permanent bar from the securities industry. However, he is not denying or admitting to the allegations.
Contact our investment adviser fraud law firm today.
SEC Announces Fraud Charges Against Buffalo-Based Firm and Co-Owners Accused of Misleading Investors in Hedge Fund, SEC, December 10, 2014
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