The SEC today permanently banned a former investment adviser who will face trial later this year on federal fraud charges.

According to the SEC and the United States Attorney’s Office, Michael Shillin of Appleton, Wisconsin defrauded about 100 clients, many of them seniors, between August 2014 and October 2020.

“Shillin’s misrepresentation was far-reaching and included material factual inaccuracies and omissions regarding the nature of its clients’ investments; false allegations that he had invested client funds in initial public offerings or pre-IPO stocks; misrepresentation about the value of clients’ portfolios; and inaccuracies regarding the termination of Shillin from a former employer, ”the SEC filing said today.

Shillin was criminally charged with nine counts of wire fraud and one count of bank fraud last year. His trial is due to open in August in United States district court. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison for each charge of wire fraud and a maximum of 30 years for the charge of bank fraud.

Shillin worked from 2011 to 2020 as an investment advisor and registered representative with various SEC-registered consulting firms and brokers, including Edward Jones, Raymond James and Alliance Global Partners, according to BrokerCheck. He also ran his own company, Shillin Wealth Management, which managed nearly 3,000 accounts at the end of 2020 with $ 135 million in assets under management, according to the indictment issued against him last year.

In one case, a client retired earlier than expected because Shillin told him that a SpaceX investment added $ 450,000 to his wealth, an investment that did not exist, the SEC said. He told clients he bought life insurance policies with long term care benefits when he didn’t, but charged them commissions as if he had. do. And he let clients believe they were living off the return on their investments, when in fact, they were cutting back on their investment capital, the SEC said.

Shillin also allegedly forged bank documents to use a client account as collateral for two loans totaling $ 462,000, provided clients with fraudulent tax documents to make them appear eligible for tax breaks when in fact they were not eligible , and set up a bogus online portal for its clients to monitor their portfolios and profits, according to the indictment.

Neither Shillin nor his lawyer could be reached at press time.

According to court documents, Shillin defrauded clients of hundreds of thousands of dollars. On November 29 of last year, he filed for bankruptcy.

The SEC is the third watchdog to exclude Shillin from the industry. Finra ruled it out in December 2020 and the securities division of the Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions ruled it out in January 2021.