The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused a Wisconsin investment adviser of defrauding at least 100 clients, many of whom were elderly and some sick. According to the SEC, Michael Shillin “systematically betrayed their trust by lying to them. Too often the results have been devastating.

According to the SEC complaint, Shillin encouraged several advisory clients to replace their existing life insurance policies with new ones, such as variable annuities, which caused some clients to sell securities to pay premiums for them. policies that do not exist or offer much inferior benefits to Shillin asserted. The SEC also alleges that Shillin received hundreds of thousands of dollars in ill-gotten gains from the fraud.

The SEC said Shillin told several couples that their policies would cover long-term care benefits for both, when in reality the policy only provided benefits for one spouse. He also said that in order to cover up the lies he told an elderly client – and to prevent the police from canceling each other – Shillin secretly sold securities from the client’s advisory account to pay a premium.

“Unfortunately, Shillin did not make subsequent payments, and the policy ultimately expired on its terms just weeks before the client died,” the complaint said. “All the while, Shillin kept lying to [the client’s] family, insisting that the policy remained in effect.

In another incident, Shillin allegedly told a client that a life insurance policy he sold to her contained a long-term care benefit. However, that was not the case, and the SEC said the client, who now has stage IV cancer, did not learn that there was no such policy or benefit available. ‘after being diagnosed with the disease.

And for at least six years, Shillin allegedly falsely claimed that some customers had successfully subscribed to the Initial Public Offering (IPO) or pre-IPO shares of leading companies including Fitbit Inc., Zoom Video Communications, Pinterest. and SpaceX, when they hadn’t, then lied about the true value of their investment portfolios. The SEC said Shillin lied about his access to shares of IPOs to existing and potential advisory clients. Several new clients, including high net worth individuals, said they agreed to invest their funds with Shillin as it appeared to have access to such opportunities.

“To cover up his deception, Shillin gave clients access to an online portal where they could track the value of their investments,” the complaint said. “There, an investor could sign up to see his fictitious interests in these high-profile companies and the allegedly growing value of his (non-existent) stocks. “

The lawsuit, which was filed in a Western District federal court in the United States District Court for the District of Wisconsin, accuses Shillin of violating the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 The SEC seeks injunction, restitution with prejudgment interest, civil sanction and prohibition against Shillin as an officer or director of a public company.

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Tags: Fitbit, Fraud, Inc., IPO, IPO, Michael Shillin, Pinterest, SEC, SpaceX, Zoom Video Communications