Former Pennsylvania broker convicted on 11 counts of wire and mail fraud

Former broker Anthony Diaz has been convicted on 11 counts of wire and mail fraud for falsifying clients’ net worth to put them into high-risk investments. Each count carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence. Sentencing has not been scheduled, according to a report in The New York Times.

At his trial, jurors were told that Mr. Diaz had unsuspecting customers sign blank documents, then falsified their net worth, income, investment experience and risk tolerance to make it appear they met the suitability requirements of the products. Mr. Diaz acknowledged paperwork errors but denied criminal intent, saying that he explained the products’ risks to clients and that the investments were approved by his brokerage firms.

Mr. Diaz was barred from the securities industry in 2015 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. for inducing approximately 80 customers to enter into variable annuity exchanges, often subject to significant surrender charges, without a reasonable basis for recommending those exchanges. His practice included the sale of other high-commission products, according to Finra’s complaint.

From February 2007 through February 2010, Mr. Diaz “falsely told” seven clients that investments in real estate investment trusts were either “guaranteed or guaranteed to pay certain amounts of interest,” according to the Finra complaint.

His BrokerCheck profile is 104 pages long and shows 62 disclosure events, both unusually high numbers. Mr. Diaz worked in the securities industry from 2000 to 2015 at 11 firms, the last of which was IBN Financial Services Inc. He was “discharged,” or fired, from four of them.