Former broker gets 30 months for defrauding investors

A federal court in Boston has sentenced Stephen Eubanks of Hingham, Mass., to 30 months in prison for defrauding investors of $437,000. Mr. Eubanks, who also was ordered to pay that sum in restitution to the more than 20 people he defrauded, posed as a hedge fund manager at Eubiquity Capital, a firm he founded in February 2010. An article in The Patriot Ledger said that he took in more than $700,000 from investors through 2016. Previously a registered representative with several large brokerage firms who had been fired in the wake of customer complaints and other disciplinary issues, Mr. Eubanks presented himself to acquaintances as a financial adviser running a hedge fund affiliated with Goldman Sachs, TD Ameritrade, UBS and Fidelity Investments, according to the U.S. attorney's office quoted in the story. Mr. Eubanks invested some of his clients' money but used a significant portion to pay personal expenses, sometimes running the fund as a Ponzi scheme, the U.S. attorney's office said. He fabricated account statements if asked, or used statements from unrelated accounts, the story said. Mr. Eubanks began his career with IDS Life Insurance Co. and American Express Financial Advisors, according to BrokerCheck. In 1994, he moved to Smith Barney, where he worked for over three years before moving to UBS, where he worked for close to seven years. In 2004, Mr. Eubanks joined Bear Stearns & Co. for one year before moving to Oppenheimer & Co. He separated from Oppenheimer due to a customer complaint in 2006. According to his Brokercheck profile, Mr. Eubanks had three customer disputes listed that have been closed.