SEC bars Michigan adviser who stole $314,000 from elderly client

The Securities and Exchange Commission this week barred a Michigan investment adviser who the commission alleged last year had misappropriated more than $305,000 from an elderly investment advisory client and also overcharged the same client at least $9,000 in fees on assets under management.

The financial adviser, Steven F. Muntin, 57, had his own independent registered investment adviser firm, Executive Asset Management Inc. of Fenton, Michigan, which had $26 million in client assets, according to the SEC. A call to Executive Asset Management on Friday couldn't be completed because the phone number had been changed to an unknown or unlisted number.

Muntin neither admitted or denied the finding of the SEC's settlement, according to the commission, which alleged last year in a complaint that Muntin, while employed at an unnamed RIA from 2016 to 2020, ran parallel client accounts at his own firm, Executive Asset Management.

That's where and how the fraud occurred, according to the SEC's complaint, which focused on one unnamed client. According to the complaint, starting in 2016, Muntin began soliciting that client to write $306,000 in checks to Executive Asset Management for purported investments in securities.

Muntin didn't invest any of the money, according to the SEC. Instead, shortly after receiving each of the checks, he spent all of the client's money for his own benefit. He also overcharged the client at least $9,000 in fees on the account.

[More: FBI, SEC warn public about fake brokers and advisers]