Investor's Watchdog.com: Stock, finance and investment protection for investors

Scamsters don’t have just one target audience for their schemes.  They are looking for anyone who might fall.  This time it was the elderly with little investment experience.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged former broker, Gary J. Gross, of defrauding senior citizens and other customers through a variety of scams and poor sales tactics.  According to the complaint, he earned himself more than $700,000 in commission while losing more than $2.7 million for his investors.

The SEC’s complaint states that this former registered representative of Axiom Capital Management, Inc., recommended unsuitable securities for his investors, while engaging in unauthorized trading.  Many of his clients were senior citizens, who were unsophisticated when it came to investing, hoping to grow their portfolios with minimal risk. Specifically, the complaint alleges that:

Gross recommended mutual funds and closed-end funds to his customers that were unsuitable for them and purchased risky, illiquid private placements and private investments in public equities, sometimes referred to as “PIPEs,” in his customers’ accounts without disclosing to them the risk factors.

According to the complaint, Gross traded with disregard for his customer’s conservative investment objectives. He also allegedly gave false information, to cover his misconduct by providing false account values.  These investors were losing their money, without even knowing it.

Are you a senior citizen or baby boomer looking for a safe place to keep your nest egg until you need it?  Are you hoping to grow it a bit by investing?  If so, don’t let inexperience in the world of investing stop you.  Instead, let an SEC Enforcement Branch Chief investigate the broker and give you an opinion on whether you should trust him with your nest egg.