A two-count indictment unsealed Thursday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York charged William Quigley, the former chief compliance officer of a registered broker-dealer in Woodbury, New York, with wire fraud and money laundering conspiracies.
Quigley, 47, was arraigned before Magistrate Judge Arlene Lindsay at the federal courthouse in Central Islip, New York.
Also on Thursday, the SEC brought administrative charges against Quigley, alleging he violated and aided and abetted violations of antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.
The SEC adminstrative order (pdf) said,
William Quigley was Director of Compliance of Trident Partners Ltd., a registered broker-dealer in Long Island, New York, from June 2004 through September 2005 and again from October 2007 until September 2014. During the relevant period, William Quigley was also the firm’s Anti-Money Laundering officer.
The DOJ indictment alleged that Quigley and co-conspirators told overseas investors their money would be invested in blue chip companies and funds such as Dell, Berkshire Hathaway, and BlackRock.
Quigley also allegedly told investors he and others were brokers at firms registered with the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) or the Financial Institution Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA).
“In reality,” the DOJ said, “Quigley and his co-conspirators were not registered brokers and did not invest the funds as promised.”
Quigley allegedly opened several bank accounts in New York to receive the investors’ funds. He and his co-conspirators “transferred more than $500,000 of the $800,000 investor funds from these accounts to accounts in the Philippines,” the DOJ said.
The SEC said Quigley allegedly worked with his two brothers, Michael and Brian. They live in the Philippines and “handled the solicitation aspects of the scheme,” the SEC said, “while he funneled investor money out of the accounts to his brothers and himself.”
Quigley immediately withdrew more than $42,000 in cash for his personal use and made dozens of trips to different banks in an effort to conceal his cash withdrawals, the DOJ said.
The SEC’s Andrew Calamari said: “We allege a classic situation of the fox guarding the henhouse as William Quigley subverted his position of trust as compliance director and stole money from investors and his own firm.”
If convicted on the DOJ’s criminal charges, Quigley faces up to 20 years in prison.
Acting U.S. Attorney Kelly Currie said: “Rather than use his training and expertise to protect these investors who were told that their money would be invested in well-known U.S. companies and funds, Quigley helped his co-conspirators steal the funds by transferring them to the Philippines and using them for his personal use,” stated
The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, the DOJ said, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
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Richard L. Cassin is the publisher and editor of the FCPA Blog. He can be contacted here.
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