Florida Adviser Misused $17.3 Million in Client Funds, SEC Says

A Florida financial adviser misappropriated about $17.3 million from dozens of clients—many of them Venezuelan—that he used in part to pay for his mortgage, property taxes, and high-end shopping, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint.

Andrew H. Jacobus lured clients, among them Catholic dioceses and seniors, into depositing $39.7 million into bank and brokerage accounts he controlled and convinced many they were buying into a fund that invested in initial public offerings and other securities through his Finser International Corp. and Kronus Financial Corp, the SEC told the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida ...