The Securities and Exchange Commission reached a preliminary settlement with an Armonk investment manager the SEC accused of embezzling more than $6 million from 20 clients to buy a home, cars and luxury goods.
Matthew D. Weitzman ran AFW Asset Management Inc., which does business as AFW Wealth Advisors with offices at 3020 Westchester Ave. in Purchase and in Natick, Mass.
As of April, the company represented that it had more than 300 customers and close to $200 million under management. According to The New York Times, the firm sent an e-mail to clients in April that Weitzman had been placed on leave; Jay Furst is now listed as founding principal on the company”™s Web site.
The SEC claims Weitzman sold securities in the brokerage accounts of his customers between 2005 and this past March, funneling the money to a bank account he controlled while furnishing clients phony balance statements. When clients questioned him about unauthorized transfers, the SEC alleges, Weitzman told them he withdrew the money to make legitimate investments.
Weitzman agreed to pay an as-yet unspecified penalty to the SEC without admitting or denying guilt. The U.S. Attorney General for the Southern District of New York is filing criminal charges in the case.
