A Framingham, Mass., man who managed futures funds and alternative investment advisory firms, has been charged by the SEC with misappropriating at least $16 million from the funds, the SEC announced Friday.

Daniel Thibeault and Graduate Leverage LLC, an asset management and financial advisory firm in Waltham, Mass., and three other firms controlled either directly or indirectly by Thibeault have been charged with misappropriating funds in the scheme.

According to the SEC complaint, Thibeault and another advisory firm he controlled, GL Capital Partners LLC, were the investment advisors to a fund called the GL Beyond Income Fund. The fund’s assets consisted primarily of individual, variable-rate consumer loans.

The loans in reality were fictitious and used to divert investors’ money to Thibeault, the SEC says. The people named in the paperwork created by Thibeault and the firms did not know six-figure loans were being taken out in their names, the SEC says.

The SEC is asking for disgorgement of the funds and a temporary restraining order against further activity by Thibeault and the firms. Thibeault is not registered with Finra.

Thibeault was also charged with a criminal count of fraud in December and arrested. He has been released on $700,000 bail, according to MarketWatch.

Thibeault’s fund, GL Beyond Income, was made up of variable-rate, high-yield personal consumer loans made primarily to young doctors, dentists, veterinarians and other professionals, MarketWatch says. The idea is that these loans to high achievers are less susceptible to economic downturns than market-based investments.