SEC charges adviser with stealing from clients, committing identity fraud on elderly

The Securities and Exchange Commission has leveled fraud charges against an investment adviser and his operations manager, accusing them of stealing approximately $378,000 from clients. The SEC's complaint alleges that Tarek D. Bahgat, a former resident of Williamsville, N.Y., who now lives in Egypt, misappropriated money from seven clients, including senior citizens. In addition, the regulator claims Mr. Bahgat, who had obtained internet bill-paying privileges, impersonated his clients in telephone calls with custodians and triggered money transfers from his clients' accounts to himself or to WealthCFO, a firm he controlled. The complaint also says the firm's operations manager, Lauramarie Colangelo, of Amherst, N.Y., posed as one of Mr. Bahgat's clients during a telephone call with a broker-dealer. The SEC's complaint seeks permanent injunctions and civil penalties from Mr. Bahgat and Ms. Colangelo, and disgorgement plus interest from Mr. Bahgat. The complaint names WealthCFO as a relief defendant for the purpose of disgorging illicit proceeds, plus interest, from the fraud.