Former Investment Adviser, Sentenced for Misappropriating Millions From Clients, Now Faces SEC Charges
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced former adviser Mark J. Boucher, who was previously sentenced to five years in prison for misappropriating more than $2 million of his client’s funds, will now face administrative proceedings.
According to the SEC’s complaint, between December 2010 and July 2020, Boucher, both alone and later in the capacity of sole owner of Strategic Wealth Advisors Group, or SWAG, allegedly engaged in a variety of deceptive conduct and made material misrepresentations and omissions as part of his fraud. The complaint also alleged that he diverted advisory clients’ securities to his personal accounts and sold clients’ securities and misappropriated the proceeds for his personal use.
The SEC reported that Boucher defrauded a widow in her 60s of more than $1.3 million during the relevant time period. Boucher repeatedly misappropriated the widow’s funds and forged her name on approximately 70 checks and made multiple unauthorized withdrawals. Boucher used the funds to pay his personal credit card bills and other personal expenses. The widow discovered the fraud when she was contacted by American Express stating that a payment could not be processed.
Similarly, Boucher also misappropriated funds from two brothers. According to the SEC, as their mother lay dying in the hospital, Boucher sold approximately $70,000 from one brother’s account and transferred the funds to the other brother’s account. Boucher then wired approximately $60,000 from that brother’s account to a California car dealership for the purchase of a sports car. Approximately 17 months later, Boucher sold the car to the brother for about $52,000.
Furthermore, Boucher engaged in a scheme to misappropriate assets from the trust of a deceased client. The SEC said that, between August 2019 and July of 2020, Boucher misappropriated over $1.5 million by sending cash, securities, and the proceeds of securities sales from trust accounts to accounts he controlled, including his personal checking and brokerage accounts. Boucher used a portion of these trust assets to pay for his personal expenses and credit card debt.
Earlier this year, Boucher was sentenced to five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay $409,497.77 in restitution for his criminal actions.
The SEC stated that it deems it necessary and appropriate in the public interest to institute public proceedings to determine whether the allegations are true and what, if any, remedial action is appropriate.
It may be expected that the SEC will seek a variety of remedial actions, possibly including a permanent ban from the securities industry, civil penalties, and/or disgorgement of any ill-gotten gains.
According to his Investment Adviser Public Disclosure page, Boucher was affiliated with Raymond James from 2000 to 2016 before short stints with Northwest Asset Management and SCF Investment Advisors and, finally, SWAG. According to a court order filed by the SEC in February of this year, Raymond James fired Boucher for “violation of the firm’s trust, estate, and power of attorney relationships policy.”
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