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Chicago resident Caldwell, 58, was charged with wire fraud in a legal data filed final week in U.S. District Courtroom in Chicago, in response to the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Northern District of Illinois.
Prosecutors allege that Caldwell, who labored as a financial institution senior monetary advisor, additionally established an entity referred to as Canal Productions LLC for the aim of manufacturing motion pictures, and that from 2014 to 2023 she solicited varied financial institution shoppers, together with aged clients, to spend money on her film initiatives.
Caldwell knew the funds would truly be used for her personal private profit, in response to the legal data, which says she persuaded the victims to liquidate different property with the intention to fund her purported film investments.
Caldwell defrauded three shoppers out of roughly $1,480,500, prosecutors allege. Wire fraud is punishable by as much as 20 years in federal jail, the Justice Division mentioned, noting the ex-advisor owed fiduciary duties to these shoppers.
Morris Pasqual, appearing U.S. lawyer for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert W. “Wes” Wheeler Jr., particular agent-in-charge of the FBI’s Chicago Area Workplace, introduced the cost. Assistant U.S. Legal professional Corey B. Rubenstein represents the federal government within the case.
Whereas the Justice Division didn’t identify the financial institution the place Caldwell labored on the time, the U.S. Workplace of the Comptroller of the Forex, which final yr barred Caldwell from working for any federally insured financial institution or credit score union, had recognized her as a former monetary advisor and twin worker of Citibank and Citigroup International Markets.
The Monetary Business Regulatory Authority, which final yr barred Caldwell from appearing as a dealer, has reported Citi’s findings from an inner overview that Caldwell hadn’t adequately disclosed her outdoors enterprise exercise and was soliciting agency shoppers to spend money on that exercise, a number of of whom subsequently made investments.
With out admitting or denying wrongdoing, Caldwell in November consented to the OCC’s order prohibiting her from working for any federal depository establishment, in response to the consent order. The OCC, in laying out its case in opposition to Caldwell, mentioned she had not disclosed to Citi that she was soliciting, or would solicit, Citi shoppers to spend money on her movie enterprise.
The Justice Division’s legal data alleges she hid her actions from “Financial institution A” by falsely certifying within the financial institution’s required annual “outdoors enterprise actions” stories that she wasn’t soliciting financial institution shoppers for investments in her personal outdoors endeavors. The financial institution required the stories to make sure the previous advisor’s compliance together with her fiduciary duties and to keep away from any potential conflicts of curiosity, prosecutors mentioned within the data.
One financial institution consumer invested $800,000 towards Caldwell’s enterprise, one other supplied $355,000 and a 3rd put in $325,500, in response to the Justice Division.
Caldwell was a FINRA-registered dealer with Citi from June 8, 2012, by way of Nov. 10, 2021, when, in response to the OCC, she resigned.
After that, she labored for lower than a yr at Wells Fargo Clearing Companies, in response to FINRA, which has reported that on Sept. 15, 2022, Wells Fargo disclosed she had been discharged “following an inner overview regarding the accuracy of disclosures” she made to the agency and her compliance with its outdoors actions and out of doors funding coverage.
FINRA barred Caldwell from appearing as a dealer for declining to testify in its investigation of her conduct at Citi and Wells Fargo.
As ThinkAdvisor beforehand reported, the Web Film Database lists Helen Grace Caldwell as a producer, director and actress.
Citi has no touch upon the case, a spokesperson mentioned Thursday. Caldwell didn’t instantly reply to a message left by way of her web site.
Picture: Adobe Inventory
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