A barred financial advisor from Baker City, Oregon, has been charged with stealing over $1.64 million from his clients over nearly 17 years, when he allegedly sold their stocks and transferred the proceeds into his personal bank account, prosecutors announced Thursday.
Federal prosecutors charged Jeffrey Thomas Higgins, 54, with investment advisor fraud, which they said occurred from December 2007 through June 2024. His most recent firm, Western International Securities, was acquired in 2020 by Atria Wealth Solutions, which became part of LPL Financial about four years later.
To entice investors, Higgins falsely claimed that he purchased stocks on their behalf at deep discounts when he actually bought them at market value, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon said, citing court records. The broker, whom the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority barred from the industry in 2024, then sold the stocks without the investors' knowledge and took the proceeds from the sales, prosecutors allege.
To keep the scheme going, Higgins created fictitious annual statements that exaggerated profits, while statements reflecting the stock purchases' true costs were sent to a post office box that he controlled, according to the U.S. attorney's office.
Investors' related financial losses exceeded $1.64 million, prosecutors allege.
Higgins made his first appearance in federal court before a U.S. magistrate judge Thursday and was ordered released pending further proceedings.
Higgins worked as an advisor with Financial West Group before ending his employment with the broker-dealer in August 2017, according to the criminal information filed against him this month. He then held the same role with Western International Securities until being fired on June 27, 2024, for misappropriation of client investments and funds, it said.
While working for Western, Higgins misappropriated shares destined for 12 accounts and 14 victim clients, prosecutors allege.
He also faces civil charges that the Securities and Exchange Commission filed this month. The SEC alleges that from about September 2017 through February 2024, Higgins misappropriated over $800,000 worth of securities from 12 clients for his personal benefit.
Atria Wealth Solutions acquired Western International in 2020. Western ceased operations following LPL Financial's 2024 Atria acquisition, which closed a few months after Higgins' dismissal. LPL or firms it acquired have settled several customer complaints involving Higgins, his FINRA BrokerCheck page indicates.
LPL representatives didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment Friday, nor did Higgins' federal public defender.
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