7 Worst Bogus Advisors in America: 2021

This past year offered such an extensive list of registered advisors and brokers who qualified for the dubious distinction of being among the worst financial advisors of the year that ThinkAdvisor didn’t even bother to include bogus brokers and advisors in the recent 10 Worst Financial Advisors in America.

Instead, ThinkAdvisor decided to devote this separate report to those accused of leading investors astray who lacked the proper credentials to give advice.

As usual, we have seen a fair share of unregistered brokers and advisors conducting Ponzi schemes, stealing from older adults and other clients and creating elaborate investment scams in 2021.

One fraudster on this list even threatened to murder a client. (It should be noted that not all of these bogus brokers and artificial advisors have been convicted of crimes.)

ThinkAdvisor searched enforcement actions from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and others, as well as local news outlets, to find some of the worst advisors of the year. Check them out in the gallery above.

[Correction: Hedge fund manager and Greek orthodox priest Rev. Emmanuel Lemelson (born Gregory Lemelson) was mistakenly included in an earlier version of this story. The SEC considers Lemelson to be an investment advisor, as his firm is registered with the regulatory group; also, a jury recently found some but not all of his statements to investors to be false.]

7. Edgar M. Radjabli

Dentist-turned-investment advisor Edgar M. Radjabli and two of the entities he controlled engaged in “three separate securities frauds of escalating size,” the SEC alleged in a complaint filed in June.

Radjabli allegedly generated $162,800 in illicit profits from the resulting increase in Veritone’s stock price by trading Veritone securities on behalf of Apis Capital and an affiliated fund.

The complaint also alleged Radjabli raised almost $20 million from more than 450 investors in an unregistered, fraudulent securities offering launched in August 2019 through My Loan Doctor, a limited liability company incorporated in July 2019 in which Radjabli had at least a 95% stake.

(Image: Shutterstock)

6. Felix Gorovodsky

Felix Gorovodsky pleaded guilty in May in federal court in Boston to defrauding an elderly victim and her bank by stealing the victim’s retirement assets.

Gorovodsky allegedly accessed and liquidated the victim’s bank account, transferring more than $250,000 into his own bank account. Gorovodsky then allegedly used the victim’s stolen retirement funds for personal expenses, including paying off more than $100,000 in federal student loans.

As part of the scheme, Gorovodsky allegedly forged the victim’s signature on a purported “gift letter” that he sent to the bank in a failed effort to legitimize the fraudulent transfer.

As part of a plea agreement, subject to court approval, the parties agreed to a sentence of 33 months in prison, two years of supervised release and restitution of at least $318,000.

(Image: Shutterstock)

5. Robert Joseph Armijo

In June, the SEC announced charges against California-based Robert Joseph Armijo and his company for registration violations in connection with allegedly unlawful sales of securities of real estate funds to retail investors.

According to the SEC's complaint, between about February 2016 and February 2020, Armijo and his company, Joseph Financial Inc., sold approximately $4.85 million of securities of funds managed by Florida-based EquiAlt to more than 50 investors located in Arizona, California, Texas and Oregon.

Armijo, through Joseph Financial, received about $1.1 million in commissions from EquiAlt, despite neither Armijo nor Joseph Financial being registered as a broker-dealer.

(Image: Adobe Stock)

4. Ruless Pierre

Ruless Pierre, the operator of a New York “investment club” called Amongst Friends, was convicted in Manhattan federal court of securities fraud, wire fraud and structuring charges in June for running multimillion-dollar Ponzi and embezzlement schemes.

Pierre allegedly scammed almost 100 investors out of more than $2 million. He was charged with two counts of securities fraud that each carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; one count of wire fraud that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison; and one count of structuring that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

(Image: Shutterstock)

3. Joshua Louis Rupp

Bogus broker Joshua Louis Rupp, previously of West Olive, Michigan, allegedly scammed at least 19 investors out of more than $2.7 million. He faces up to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to securities fraud, Andrew Birge, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Michigan, said in November.

Rupp allegedly spent more than $500,000 of the investors’ funds on personal expenses that included electronics, groceries and vacations, and lost most of the remaining funds trading securities, Birge said.

(Image: Adobe Stock)

2. George Heckler

In March, George Heckler of Charleston, South Carolina, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud for his role in a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $20 million from investors through misrepresentations about trading strategy and fund performance.

Separately, the SEC filed a complaint against Heckler in the same court, alleging that, between 2009 and 2019, he defrauded investors, as well as CV Special Opportunity Fund and Cassatt Short Term Trading Fund, two hedge funds he advised and controlled.

Heckler “repeatedly misled investors by telling them they were earning consistent gains while, in reality, their money had not been invested as promised (or at all), and the value of the money that had been invested was decimated by poor performing investments,” the SEC alleged.

(Image: Shutterstock)

1. Gregg Brie

Gregg Brie of White Plains, New York, didn’t scam nearly as much money as others on this list. But, in addition to embezzling over $640,000 from three clients, he threatened to murder one of them.

Brie pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and was sentenced in November to 63 months in prison. He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release and pay $642,333 in restitution.

When his first victim, a disabled man on a fixed income and confined to a wheelchair, asked for profit Brie claimed was made on stock he invested in, Brie told the client the accounts were frozen.

When the victim attempted to contact him, Brie told his client he would “murder [him]” if the victim attempted to contact his firm again. Brie repeated that threat at least two additional times, noting he meant his threats to be taken “literally, not metaphorically,” it was alleged.

(Image: Shutterstock)

7 Worst Bogus Advisors in America: 2021

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7 Worst Bogus Advisors in America: 2021

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7. Edgar M. Radjabli

6. Felix Gorovodsky

5. Robert Joseph Armijo

4. Ruless Pierre

3. Joshua Louis Rupp

2. George Heckler

1. Gregg Brie

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