A former financial advisor in Oregon has been charged with operating a long-running scheme to divert and steal money from his customers, according to an AdvisorHub report.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged 54-year-old Jeffrey Thomas Higgins with investment fraud.
The alleged actions cover a 17-year period from December 2007 through June 2024 when Higgins worked as an investment adviser in Baker City. Court documents stated that Higgins lied to entice investors, falsely claiming he purchased stocks on their behalf at deep discounts of up to 91% off market value, when he actually purchased the stocks at market value.
Prosecutors said Higgins then sold the stocks without the investors’ knowledge and stole the proceeds from the sales, transferring the money to his personal bank account.
To keep the scheme going, Higgins allegedly created fictitious annual statements that exaggerated profits and purported to show the clients’ holdings increasing in value. Statements reflecting the true costs of stock purchases were mailed directly to a post office box controlled by Higgins. The U.S. Attorney states that as a result of Higgins’ scheme, investors suffered a financial loss totaling more than $1.6 million.
A parallel civil complaint was filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission detailing the diversion of funds by Higgins through a sham investment program he controlled, called Cumulus.
Higgins pleaded not guilty last month. He was released from custody and is scheduled to appear before a jury June 16. His lawyer, Assistant Federal Public Defender Robert Hamilton, did not return a request for comment sent through social media.
Higgins had been with Western International Securities, an independent broker-dealer that was acquired by Atria Wealth Solutions in 2020. He was fired in June 2024 over potential misappropriation of client funds.
He was barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2024 after declining to cooperate with its investigation into the matter.
Hyman Cotter routinely represents investors harmed when financial professionals and their firms engaged in misconduct that caused their clients investment losses. Our team includes lawyers who have worked for large financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley and UBS Financial Services, and regulatory bodies such as the SEC. If you think your financial professional or firm engaged in misconduct that caused you investment losses, contact Hyman Cotter at (833) 665-0784 or through our online contact form for a no-cost evaluation of your matter.
