Campbell’s scheme began to unravel in late April 2021 when employees of the broker-dealer attempted to contact one of the firm’s principals by email to discuss unusual transaction activity, the SEC said. But the emails, the SEC said, were intercepted by Campbell, who had hacked the emails of the firm’s staff. She had previously gained access to her colleagues’ computers by telling them that she needed to fix technical issues, the SEC said. “Once she obtained access, she surreptitiously changed the relevant email settings,” the complaint said.
The SEC complaint said the broker-dealer personnel continued to try to reach the firm, including by telephone, but Campbell intercepted these communications. She even used a voice-altering software to impersonate one of the firm’s principals when speaking by phone to an anti-money laundering (AML) officer from the broker-dealer, the complaint said.
“The AML officer questioned certain deposits into Campbell’s account, and Campbell (impersonating the Investment Adviser’s principal) told the employee that the situation could be explained because Campbell was the niece of the beneficiary of the JK Account, which was false,” the SEC complaint said.
When the AML officer requested additional documentation regarding the deposits, Campbell wasted little time in responding, the SEC said. The next day, using the principal’s email address, she sent the broker-dealer “a fictitious letter from the [account] trustee ... stating that the transfers to Campbell were legitimate, and a fictitious tax form purporting to show rental income attributable to Campbell, ostensibly in support of her deposits.”
That same day, May 5, 2021, unbeknownst to the firm’s principals, the broker-dealer sent an email and letter terminating its service agreement with the firm, the SEC said. Campbell intercepted the communication and responded by email, “again impersonating the principal, seeking to ‘resolve’ the issue and asking whether Campbell would need to be terminated to maintain the relationship between the broker-dealer and the investment adviser.”
Days later, on May 10, the SEC said the firm discovered the termination letter from the broker-dealer and began an investigation, after which Campbell was suspended. The complaint said the firm’s principals met with Campbell a few days later and recorded the meeting. She admitted to her fraudulent scheme in email exchanges with the firm’s principals, the SEC said. She was fired on May 20, 2021.
According to BrokerCheck, Campbell, who holds Series 7 and Series 63 securities licenses, began working in the industry in 2006 with Harold C. Brown & Co. LLC in Buffalo, she moved to Girard Securities Inc. in 2012 and spent less than a year before joining Wells Fargo Advisors. She left in 2015 and was not registered when she joined Pratt Collard Buck Advisory Group.