The Department of Justice has charged a former Atria advisor with defrauding clients of about $1.7 million over 17-years.
Jeffrey Thomas Higgins was charged with investment fraud in Oregon federal court last week and was released pending further court proceedings.
According to SEC records, Higgins registered with the industry in 2001 at Financial West Group, before joining Western International Securities, a former broker/dealer subsidiary of Atria Wealth Solutions, which was rolled up into LPL Financial in 2024.
The Justice Department claimed that Higgins worked as an investment advisor in Baker City, Ore. from 2007 through June 2024, Higgins allegedly lied to clients that he’d purchased stock shares for them at deep discounts, advertising the investment plan as “low-risk yet with a high return.”
In reality, Higgins purchased the shares at market value with clients’ funds and repeatedly misappropriated some of the money to his own investment account. Higgins would make purchases through a transfer agent using a private email account. After purchasing the shares, he’d move them to his employer (first Financial West, then Western International).
Allegedly, Higgins would send different instructions on whether the shares should be sent, including to his own account. After receiving the shares, Higgins would sell them and keep the proceeds for himself. He also concocted false annual statements to clients to keep the scheme going, claiming “greatly exaggerated profits,” according to the DOJ.
In total, about 14 people were victims and Higgins misappropriated about $1,649,190 worth of investors’ shares, the DOJ claimed.
According to SEC records, Western International Securities fired him in June 2024, claiming the firm was investigating his conduct following his notification “that he had been misdirecting client investments and funds and misappropriating client investments and funds to his own use, starting in approximately 2007 at his prior broker/dealer firm, and that these activities have continued through to the current date.”
Higgins is also facing SEC charges concerning the same alleged conduct. He could not be reached for comment prior to publication.
In February 2024 (shortly before Western fired Higgins), LPL Financial announced it would acquire Atria Wealth Solutions, which managed about $100 billion and worked with about 2,400 advisors. As part of the deal, Atria moved its brokerage and advisory assets, which were custodied under several b/ds (including Western), onto the LPL platform.
