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Both the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office filed new complaints against Bruce Fixelle for conning unwitting victims out of more than $500,000 through two companies that he controlled.
Fixelle, 58, used the money "for his own purposes and to pay other investors," then tried to cover his tracks by giving the victims bogus capital investment statements, tax documents and bank records, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo said Wednesday.
Calo’s detectives arrested Fixelle on Monday on charges of theft by deception and falsifying records. He was given an Oct. 31 first appearance date in Central Judicial Processing Court in Hackensack.
On Tuesday, the SEC filed its own complaint in U.S. District Court in Newark.
The commission charged Fixelle with “soliciting investments from close friends he met through a local community organization, telling them that he was going to invest their money in initial and secondary offerings, which he would then sell before the end of the trading day.
“Fixelle described his trading strategy as safe and successful,” the SEC said. “In reality, rather than investing these funds, he allegedly used investor money to pay mounting personal debt and personal expenses.”
The new scams began right after Fixelle agreed to pay disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties of more than $1.5 million for violating regulations in 2014 through two companies he created, Genesis Advisory Services Corp. and Aurora Capital Management, the SEC said.
“Fraud often occurs where investors least expect it – with close friends, family members, and in trust-based communities,” said Marc P. Berger, regional director of the SEC’s New York Office. “Investors are encouraged to use publicly available tools to gather information about individuals who are attempting to sell them securities."
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