SEC charges Arizona man with defrauding elderly investors

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged an Arizona man with fraud in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. In its complaint, the SEC alleged Conrad Coggeshall of Scottsdale fraudulently raised $700,000 from four elderly investors between April 2017 and May 2018. According to the SEC, Mr. Coggeshall claimed that investors' money was going to a New York-based mergers and acquisition firm in New York called Business Owners Tax Relief, and that the investment would pay them a fixed rate of interest. Instead, he used the money to trade securities, pay his personal expenses and make payments to the investors, the complaint said. (Recommended video: Michael Kitces: IBDs probably can't match zero commissions of Schwab, TD) The SEC is seeking a permanent injunction, disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil money penalties from Mr. Coggeshall. According to Brokercheck, Mr. Coggeshall is not currently registered as a broker. But his Brokercheck record shows that he worked in the industry for 15 years, most recently at Packerland Brokerage Services Inc. in Scottsdale from 2015 to 2018.