SEC Charges Investment Adviser and CEO With Misleading Retail Investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Connecticut-based investment advisory firm and its chief executive officer with putting $19 million of investor money, including elderly investors’ retirement savings and pension plans, in risky investments and secretly pocketing hefty commissions from those investments. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Temenos Advisory Inc. and George L. Taylor steered advisory clients and other investors, including senior citizens and individuals approaching retirement, into four risky, illiquid private offerings. While Temenos and Taylor charged advisory fees for unbiased financial advice, they allegedly concealed from their clients the high commissions they were pocketing from these risky and unsuitable investment recommendations, including cash and ownership stakes in the private companies they recommended, and fraudulently misled clients about the risks and prospects of the investments.