SEC Says Adviser Took Confidential Client Info to Start New Firm

A California investment adviser improperly took confidential client information from his former employer and used it to start a new firm, the SEC said.

Parker Terrill Austin and his new firm, Embarcadero Capital Advisors Inc., also made misrepresentations to induce clients to join, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Central District of California.

Starting in 2023, as he looked to start his own firm, Austin sent to his personal email nonpublic information belonging to his then-employer’s clients, according to the SEC’s complaint. Austin had also placed a client ...