An ex-broker in Ohio has been arrested and indicted on 96 criminal counts after state law enforcement said he defrauded clients out of $1.2 million.

Christopher Todd Wendel, 58, fraudulently solicited 10 Ohio residents, including some who were elderly, to invest in the Buckeye Income Fund from 2019 to 2021, according to an announcement by the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Securities.

He was arrested on July 21 and is currently being held in the Mercer County Jail in Celina, according to the county sheriff’s office. The charges, according the Department of Commerce, include “securities fraud, unlicensed securities activity, misrepresentation in the sale of a security, sale of unregistered securities, theft, and telecommunications fraud.” His case is being heard in the Ohio Court of Common Pleas, according to the sheriff’s office website.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (Finra) barred Wendel in 2018 after it said he engaged in private securities transactions without telling his broker-dealer, SA Stone Wealth Management, which fired him in 2017.

“During the relevant period,” said Finra in its disciplinary letter, “Wendel solicited investors to purchase promissory notes in Woodbridge Mortgage Investment Funds, a purported real-estate investment fund. Ultimately, Wendel sold $343,500 in Woodbridge promissory notes to four individuals. He received more than $10,000 in commissions in connection with these transactions. Wendel did not provide notice to SA Stone prior to participating in these private securities transactions, nor did he obtain approval from SA Stone.”

Finra also said Wendel lied in written and on-the-record testimony about his participation in the promissory notes, “falsely stating that his participation in the sale of a Woodbridge promissory note occurred after his association with SA Stone ceased.”

Wendel has a number of disclosures on his BrokerCheck record for customer disputes at SA Stone and WRP Investments (earlier in his career he was affiliated with American Express), including complaints about unregistered offerings or non-approved or unsuitable products. The Ohio Division of Securities said it issued a cease-and-desist order against him in August 2019 after alleging that Wendel engaged in the unlicensed sale of unregistered securities.

According to the Ohio Department of Commerce, the case was presented by the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office.