The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a complaint against Joel B. Sofia.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that, from at least July 2019 to January 2023 (the “Relevant Period”), Sofia, an investment adviser, made material misrepresentations to advisory clients. In soliciting the clients, Sofia lied about his professional background and experience in the financial industry, falsely guaranteed that the clients would not lose money, and deceived clients regarding his purported development and use of proprietary trading software.

Sofia charged the clients fees to manage their investments. He convinced the clients to provide him with direct access to their brokerage accounts so that he could place trades on their behalf.

The SEC alleges that, by making materially false and misleading statements to the clients, Sofia breached his fiduciary obligations as an investment adviser.

Sofia’s trading of options in the clients’ accounts resulted in losses to the clients of between 61% and 89% of their beginning account balances. By January 2023, Sofia’s fraud had caused the clients to lose a total of more than $1.6 million. After the clients expressed concerns to Sofia about their respective losses, Sofia stopped communicating with them.

The regulator accuses Sofia of violations of Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”) [15 U.S.C.§§ 80b-6(1) & 80b-6(2)].

The Commission seeks a final judgment: (a) permanently enjoining Sofia from violating the federal securities laws this Complaint alleges he has violated; (b) permanently enjoining Sofia from acting as or being associated with any investment adviser, broker, or dealer; and (c) ordering Sofia to pay a civil monetary penalty pursuant to Advisers Act Section 209(e) [15 U.S.C. § 80b-9(e)].