SEC Charges Investment Adviser With Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Fieldstone Financial Management Group LLC and its principal Kristofor R. Behn, both of Foxboro, Mass., with defrauding retail investment advisory clients by failing to disclose conflicts of interest related to their recommendations to invest in securities issued by affiliates of Oregon-based Aequitas Management LLC. Behn also fraudulently misused approximately $500,000 of one investor’s funds to pay personal expenses. According to the SEC’s order, from 2014 to early 2016, approximately 40 retail clients of Behn and Fieldstone invested more than $7 million in Aequitas securities, which were the subject of a previous Commission enforcement action.