FBI officials charged former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker Michael Jeffrey Oppenheim with stealing $20 million from customers at JP Morgan in a fraudulent scheme prosecutors allege bilked eager investors out of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars apiece from March 2011 to March 2015, when JP Morgan Securities finally terminated his registration.
Authorities charged Oppenheim with wire fraud, embezzlement, investment adviser fraud and securities fraud, claiming that Oppenheim misrepresented himself to clients in order to gain their consent to withdraw large sums of money from their bank accounts. The investigation states that Oppenheim promised customers these funds would be invested in safe and secure low-risk municipal bonds when in reality, Oppenheim purportedly converted the funds for personal use, including payment of home loan and bills as well as Oppenheim-controlled options trading accounts.
Prosecutors say that to cover his tracks, Oppenheim sometimes generated fraudulent bank statements listing municipal bonds that were never held by the duped clients.
In a related action, the SEC filed a complaint against Oppenheim, claiming he withdrew customer funds with the use of cashier's checks, which he then deposited into his account. The complaint claims that once in possession of the stolen money, Oppenheim would trade for stocks and options of companies such as Apple, Google and Netflix, though he "typically lost the entire amount of each deposit," and allegedly wired whatever profits he did earn to bank accounts in his or his wife's name.
If you have invested with Michael Jeffrey Oppenheim at JPMorgan, or with any broker, financial adviser or firm whose alleged fraudulent misrepresentations and/or theft of funds from your accounts have proven harmful to your investments or interests, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for investigation and consultation.
News: Ex-JPMorgan Banker Charged With Stealing $20M From Clients (ABC News/AP)