SEC Charges Filed Against Broker Michael Shillin

Former Wisconsin Financial Advisor is Accused of Defrauding at Least 100 Advisory Clients

Michael Francis Shillin, who was barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Wisconsin’s Officer of the Commissioner of Insurance (OCI) in January 2021, is now facing Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charges.

The regulator is accusing the previously registered broker and investment advisor of defrauding at least 100 investment advisory clients, including many elderly investors. The SEC brought its case in September 2021.

Shillin, who has 44 disclosures on his BrokerCheck record, resigned as an Alliance Global Partners broker in 2020 following allegations related to an insurance product. He was fired from Raymond James Financial Services in 2018. Then, from May 2018 through December 2020, Shillin ran the now-defunct Shillin Wealth Management.

The SEC is suing Shillin for allegedly making misrepresentations to clients, lying to them about the true value of their portfolios, and receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in ill-gotten gains.

Shepherds Smith Edwards and Kantas (SSEK Law Firm at investorlawyers.com) is looking into customer claims of investment losses involving ex-Wisconsin financial advisor of Michael Shillin. If you are one of these investors, call SSEK Law Firm today at (800) 259-9010.

Misrepresentations & Misappropriation Are Alleged

The Commission contends that while serving as an investment advisor, Shillin fabricated documents and made misrepresentations, including that other clients had success with pre-IPO and IPO share subscriptions in high-profile companies.

He is accused of lying to customers about the true value of their investment portfolios and encouraging several of them to roll over life insurance policies into newer ones. This latter action allegedly caused some clients to sell securities for policies that either had fewer benefits than what Shillin claimed or didn’t exist at all.

The regulator said that the former Wisconsin financial advisor made hundreds of thousands of dollars in ill-gotten gains and that many of his victims were older investors. Now, the Commission is seeking disgorgement with prejudgment interest, injunctive relief, a civil penalty, and a bar.

Ex-Clients of Shillin Seek More Than $2.3M in Broker Misconduct Damages

Shillin worked nine years in the industry. Before Alliance Global Partners and Raymond James Financial Services, he was an Edward Jones broker. Many of the customer disputes involving Michael Shillin are still pending with damages sought to exceed $2.3M.

There are at least 30 still pending customer disputes involving Shillin. Here are two of the most recent customer disputes:

May 2021: The claimants are seeking $1M in damages. They contend that Shillin made misrepresentations when he allegedly lied about having purchased certain securities for their accounts and generated false documents to back this up. The customers were led to believe they could retire based on the performances of their portfolios. Shillin allegedly made unauthorized disbursements from two trusts.
May 2021: The claimants contend that misrepresentations were made related to securities that were never purchased even though Shillin allegedly told them that they had been. Misrepresentations also were purportedly made related to a long-term care policy, pre-IPO stocks, and tax returns. The customers say they were never informed about limits involving penalty-free 401(K) withdrawals. They too say that they were falsely informed that they could retire based on how their portfolios were doing. The investors in this FINRA arbitration case are requesting $1M in damages.

Knowledgeable Securities Fraud Attorneys

If your investment advisor was registered with a brokerage firm, and you suspect that their misconduct or negligence contributed to your losses, you may be able to file a FINRA arbitration against the broker-dealer. Financial firms have a duty to properly supervise their brokers and investment advisors while protecting customers from wrongdoing that could lead to losses.

If you suffered losses while Michael Shillin was your broker with Raymond James or Alliance Global Partners, call our broker misconduct lawyers at (800) 259-9010 today.