SEC Charges Advisor With Stealing From Friends, Community Members

SALI is designed to help identify registered and unregistered individuals who have been parties to past SEC enforcement actions and against whom federal courts have entered judgments or the SEC has issued orders.

Fixelle used some of the investor money to make payments on personal credit cards, a personal loan, and to pay his mortgage and health insurance premiums.

The complaint states that he was using investor funds to pay his debts, personal expenses, and by at least 2016, to repay at least one other investor.

“Fixelle never disclosed to his prospective or existing investors his personal or business financial problems, or his intention and practice of misappropriating their funds, until long after they invested with him,” the complaint states. “On the contrary, Fixelle actively sought to deceive them through periodic account statements that he knowingly falsified, and which falsely purported to show positive returns. Fixelle succeeded in inducing at least two investors … into providing him with more than $300,000 since 2014 through these fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions.”

Marc Berger, regional director of the SEC’s New York Office, said in a statement that “fraud often occurs where investors least expect it — with close friends, family members, and in trust-based communities. Investors are encouraged to use publicly available tools to gather information about individuals who are attempting to sell them securities.”