A former Cetera Advisor Networks advisor who spent almost 20 years in the securities business has been sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding clients in a loan scheme, authorities announced.
David Aaron Rockwell, 45, of Cape Coral, Fla., was sentenced today after he pleaded guilty in January to wire fraud and bank fraud, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida.
In addition to the prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge John L. Badalamenti ordered Rockwell to pay the $1 million he stole through his frauds, prosecutors said.
Rockwell, who was registered as both a broker and investment advisor during his career in the financial industry, began to defraud clients and steal their money in October 2017, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Prosecutors said he also defrauded a federally insured bank when he applied for two lines of credit totaling $700,000 in the names of his clients, without their knowledge.
"Rockwell forged the clients’ signatures on the loan applications and pledged the clients’ assets as collateral for the loans, all without their knowledge or authorization," the U.S. Attorney's Office stated in a press release. "Rockwell used the funds that he had obtained from the loans for his own use and benefit."
In another instance, Rockwell stole $400,000 from a client through a fictitious low-income housing investment and used the money to pay his personal credit cards and to purchase a home, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Rockwell was barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2019, according to the authority’s BrokerCheck website.
Rockwell worked at Cetera Advisor Networks from 2015 to 2018, Finra said. Before that, he worked at SunTrust Investment Services from 2012 to 2015, Fifth Third Securities from 2009 to 2012 and Comerica Securities from 2000 to 2009.