Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris, a Bentley, a Lincoln limousine. A $2.4 million home. $1.4 million in jewelry. $50,000 in gold bullion. Those are some things the Securities and Exchange Commission charges this trader bought with millions taken from clients rather than investing it in securities and commodities as promised.
As a result, the SEC today announced fraud charges and an asset freeze against 38-year-old Sean Nathan Healy of Weston, Fla., who the commission says stole more than $15 million in investor funds to purchase the multimillion dollar home, the luxury vehicles, jewelry, home furnishings and more.
The SEC alleges that Healy promised investors that he would use their money to trade in securities and commodities futures on their behalf. Between September 2008 and January 2009 in particular, Healy told clients he was using the money to profitably trade in gold futures. Healy, who claimed to be a self-employed day trader, was a registered rep for broker-dealers between 1999 and 2001 but hasn't worked since with an entity registered with the SEC.
Despite repeated assurances that his purported trading was earning excellent returns, Healy did not invest any of the money he received in securities or commodities futures and instead made personal purchases as well as Ponzi-like payments to investors he defrauded, the SEC says.
The SEC's complaint, filed in federal district court in Pennsylvania, says since at least 2005, Healy has obtained as much as $20 million from approximately 50 investors. Between May 2008 and February 2009, Healy obtained approximately $15 million from Alfred Madeira, a Chambersburg, Pa., resident who invested his own money and money provided by his attorney and more than 40 friends, acquaintances and business associates.
Most of the assets bought with the investor money are held in the name of Healy's wife, Shalese Healy, or his company, Dollar Investing Partners LLC, both of whom are named as relief defendants in the complaint because they benefited from the ill-gotten funds, the SEC says. Healy also used some of the money to pay approximately $1 million to previous investors.
The SEC's complaint further alleges that when Healy was questioned about his trading, he provided falsified bank and trading records to Madeira and to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania granted the SEC's request for a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against Healy, his wife and Sand Dollar Investing Partners. The court also appointed a receiver to oversee Healy's assets and all the assets of the relief defendants that are traceable to the fraud. The SEC's investigation is continuing.