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This is a quick follow up to my post Anti-Fraud Measures Your Practice Needs where news of “irregularities” in accounts managed by Matthew Weitzman of AFW Wealth Advisers was highlighted in the New York Times.

It turns out the Mr. Weitzman is facing very serious charges. Here’s a snip from an InvestmentNews article released today:

Earlier today, the U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan and the New York office of the FBI said they charged Matthew Weitzman, 43, of Armonk, N.Y., with one count of investment adviser fraud and six counts each of securities fraud and wire fraud.

He also faces charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission over the alleged theft of client funds.

Click here to view the full story at InvestmentNews.

It’s unfortunate to see anyone take advantage of clients, and it’s even worse when the individual in this case once had an affiliation with NAPFA, a group of respected fee-only financial advisers.

So again, take this opportunity to communicate to your clients about the processes and procedures you have in place to prevent fraud and protect your clients’ interests.

A story from New York Times personal finance columnist Ron Lieber quickly traveled through the Twitter universe and landed in my inbox.  Lieber is a client of NAPFA-member AFW Wealth Advisors and was informed by the firm that one of their advisers, Matthew Weitzman, is under investigation for “certain irregularities in a limited number of client accounts.”

See the NYTimes article here.

Also, see coverage from Roger at The Passionate Planner and Andrew Gluck at Advisor Blog Central.

Let’s face it. Your clients may very likely see this article. Once they do, they’re going to ask you what you are doing to protect their accounts from this kind of fraud.

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