What You Have to Know
- Jared Dean Eakes gained entry to the shoppers by shopping for books of enterprise underneath false pretenses, prosecutors say.
- He allegedly transferred consumer cash to his private brokerage account and engaged in unauthorized choices buying and selling.
- Eakes was charged with 4 counts of fraud and has pleaded not responsible.
Federal prosecutors have charged a former Florida monetary advisor with wire fraud, alleging he scammed shoppers in at the very least 4 states out of over $2.7 million after getting access to them by buying different advisors’ books of companies underneath false pretenses.
Jared Dean Eakes, from at the very least January 2019 by February 2020, falsely represented himself as a registered funding advisor managing tens of millions in consumer funds and searching for, by a web-based market, to amass different advisors’ enterprise, in line with an indictment filed final week in U.S. District Court docket for the Center District of Florida.
An FBI particular agent arrested Eakes in Jacksonville on Could 20, and he was detained pending trial. Final week he pleaded not responsible to all 4 fraud counts.
The felony costs come about two years after the Securities and Alternate Fee filed civil costs towards Eakes associated to the alleged fraud scheme. The Florida Instances-Union reported this week that the fees additionally come almost a 12 months after the SEC informed the court docket that Eakes, 32, was “actively concealing his whereabouts.”
After assuming management of consumer belongings from two advisors, Eakes transformed their funds to accounts he managed, prosecutors allege. The victims, together with 17 cited by initials, lived in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Missouri and elsewhere, in line with the indictment.
Eakes misled shoppers into pondering their funds have been being invested in line with their needs, when in actuality he transformed their cash to his personal use, prosecutors allege.