A former financial advisor in New York has been ordered to pay nearly $1.4 million for allegedly stealing money from an elderly client, Financial Advisor reports.
The Securities and Exchange Commission accused Clarice Crystal Saw, a former registered representative in Pleasantville, of defrauding the brokerage client, a widower, out of a total of $2.4 million.
It was alleged by the SEC that Saw obtained power of attorney, then liquidated the client’s account, transferred the funds to her personal account and used the money for personal expenses, including car and mortgage payments and stock purchases.
The activity was reported to have occurred from December 2021 to March 2022, a period when Saw was affiliated with Citigroup and Cetera Investment Services.
“Saw carried out her scheme by obtaining by deception a power of attorney from the customer, falsifying internal records at [the broker-dealer], liquidating all of the customer’s securities holdings at [the broker-dealer] without the customer’s authorization, and transferring all of the customer’s holdings [at the broker-dealer] to Saw’s own personal bank and brokerage accounts without the customer’s authorization,” the SEC said.
The SEC’s complaint described the client as an immigrant to the U.S. from China who did not speak, read, or understand English, but who was of the same ethnic background as Saw, who spoke his language as well as English. The client’s wife died in 2015, and he was the beneficiary of her life-insurance policy, which netted him about $1.8 million as of July 2020, according to the SEC.
In a 2024 court filing, Saw disputed many of the SEC’s accusations, stating that she and the client had developed a close long-term relationship. The client followed Saw to Cetera after she resigned from Citigroup in September 2021, she said. When the client was recovering after being hit by a motorcycle, Saw added her name to the client’s personal bank account but denied that the client had not given her permission to do so.
The SEC maintained that Cetera’s policies meant Saw could not commingle funds or securities with those of her client or maintain a joint account if she were acting in a power of attorney capacity. But Saw said that she never used her power of attorney with regards to the client’s Cetera account.
The U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York granted a summary judgment finding that Saw had violated the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Securities Act of 1933. The court granted the motion for monetary relief amounting to $640,587.30 in disgorgement and the same amount in civil penalties, as well as interest of almost $100,000.
Saw could not be reached for comment, Financial Advisor reported. Her attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The attorneys at Hyman Cotter have decades of experience dealing with securities fraud cases and have a deep understanding of how capital markets and financial service firms are intended to work to protect investors. 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.
