SEC charges adviser with allegedly stealing $9.8M from elderly client

The SEC has charged a licensed investment adviser with allegedly stealing $9.8 million from an elderly client to fund luxury real estate and cars.

In a complaint filed January 30 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges that Ejiro Ode Okuma, 43, a resident of Smyrna, Georgia, misappropriated funds from an 81-year-old advisory client between March 2022 and March 2025. Okuma holds Series 7, 63, 65, and 66 securities licenses and worked as both a registered representative and investment adviser representative at Commission-registered broker-dealers.

According to the complaint, Okuma began providing financial services to the client in 2016. Over time, the client, who the SEC says has certain health issues, grew increasingly reliant on Okuma to manage all aspects of his finances, including facilitating payments of bills and other expenses, arranging for a caretaker, purchasing groceries and other household items, and even handling his mail.

The SEC claims the scheme began in 2022 when Okuma allegedly stole approximately $900,000 from the client and the estate of the client's recently deceased sister. The client's sister and only living relative passed away intestate in August 2021, and the client requested that the probate court appoint Okuma as administrator of the estate. The court finalized that appointment in February 2022.

The complaint alleges that Okuma instructed the client to write a $500,000 check to the estate, which Okuma deposited before transferring the funds to an account that he controlled that was held by an entity affiliated with one of Okuma's family members.

In 2023, the SEC alleges, Okuma opened an unauthorized brokerage account purportedly for the benefit of a trust in the client's name. According to the complaint, Okuma transferred more than $9 million in securities from the client's other accounts into this new account, effectively leaving those accounts empty. The SEC claims Okuma took several steps to conceal his continued misappropriation from the client, including setting up login credentials so he could access and control the account, authorizing check writing from the account, and creating an email account to electronically impersonate the client.

The complaint further alleges that Okuma caused the client to add Okuma to the client's personal bank account as a joint account holder with right of survivorship. Between August 2023 and March 2025, the SEC claims Okuma drafted checks from the brokerage account totaling $6,743,000 to the firm associated with the affiliated account and $500,000 to another firm that was owned and managed by Okuma, by what appears to be forging the client's signature.

According to the SEC, Okuma used the misappropriated funds to fund his family's lifestyle. The complaint alleges he spent more than $5.6 million toward the purchase of real property and the design and partial construction of a multi-million-dollar home on the property. He also allegedly purchased luxury cars, made a downpayment on a $1.4 million beach house, and acquired a fractional share of a second vacation home.

The complaint notes that when Okuma left his advisory firm in May 2023, he told the client their advisory relationship would continue at the new firm. However, the SEC alleges Okuma did not transfer any of the client's assets to the new firm or establish accounts for the client with the new firm. This meant the new firm did not have a record of the client being a client of the firm or the ability to monitor and detect Okuma's conduct with the client's funds.

According to the filing, Okuma asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in response to questions regarding his use of client funds. The SEC states that after learning of the investigation, Okuma returned some funds to the client but still owes approximately $9 million.

The SEC has charged Okuma with violations of Section 17(a)(1) of the Securities Act, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rules 10b-5(a) and (c), and Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act.

The Commission is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and a conduct-based injunction barring Okuma from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security. The SEC has also requested that the court order Okuma to relinquish his rights, title, and interest in the property and has demanded a jury trial.

The case remains pending.