U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 23366 / September 28, 2015
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Eldrick E. Woodley d/b/a Woodley & Co. Wealth Strategies, Civil Action No. 4: 15-cv-2767 (S.D. Tex., filed September 22, 2015)
SEC Charges Houston Investment Adviser with Misappropriating Client Funds
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced that, on September 22, 1015, it filed fraud charges against Eldrick E. Woodley, a Houston-based investment advisor, for misappropriating more than $147,000 in client funds.
According to the SEC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, Woodley, doing business as the advisory firm Woodley & Co. Wealth Strategies, undertook a fraudulent scheme to steal money from his advisory clients. The Commission alleges that to perpetrate his scheme, Woodley submitted a series of fraudulent fee invoices to the custodian of his clients' accounts to collect funds from various clients, purportedly as compensation for services Woodley performed and investments Woodley made on his clients' behalf. According to the Commission's complaint, the fee invoices, however, were for services Woodley never performed and investments Woodley never made on behalf of the relevant clients. Woodley directed all of these transactions and fraudulently collected over $147,000 from his clients' accounts.
The Commission alleges that Woodley violated Sections 206(1) and (2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, seeks to permanently enjoin Woodley from violating the federal securities laws, and seeks an order requiring Woodley to pay disgorgement of his ill-gotten gains, plus prejudgment interest and penalties.