Barred from the securities industry almost two years ago, Jeffrey Thomas Higgins was charged last week by the Department of Justice with investment fraud; Higgins allegedly stole his clients’ shares of stocks, sold them and transferred the proceeds into his personal bank account for almost 17 years, according to federal prosecutors.
As InvestmentNews reported in the summer of 2024, FINRA barred Higgins, who had been "misappropriating" or taking client funds for 17 years and was fired from his firm, Western International Securities Inc., just days before being booted from the industry. He worked in Baker City, Oregon.
Higgins could not be reached Tuesday for comment. In a related matter, the Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a complaint this month against Higgins and made similar allegations that he took clients’ money for his personal use.
Western International Securities was part of the Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. network of broker-dealers that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. bought in 2024. According to Higgins' BrokerCheck profile, he is the target of three open legal claims filed by his clients; seven customer disputes involving Higgins have been settled.
One investor lawsuit has been denied in arbitration.
“To entice investors, Higgins lied, falsely claiming he purchased stocks on their behalf at deep discounts when he actually purchased the stocks at market value,” according to federal prosecutors in a statement last Thursday. “Higgins then sold the stocks without the investors’ knowledge and stole the proceeds from the sales – transferring the money to his personal bank account.”
“To keep the scheme going, Higgins created fictitious annual statements that exaggerated profits,” according to prosecutors. “Statements reflecting the true costs of stock purchases were mailed directly to a post office box controlled by Higgins. As a result of Higgins’ scheme, victim investors suffered a financial loss totaling more than $1.6 million.”
Higgins had 22 years of experience in the retail securities industry, first at Financial West Group and then, starting at 2017, at Western International Securities, according to BrokerCheck.
Financial West Group sold its advisors and assets to Western International Securities in 2017 and then shut down.
According to a 2024 settlement with FINRA, Higgins was not barred from the industry for his misuse of client funds; instead, FINRA barred him for not cooperating in its investigation.
Higgins did not produce documents or records that the regulator was seeking, and he also did not appear to testify in the matter.
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