A former hotel banquet employee is accused of using his coworkers’ money as his own piggy bank and defrauding them of over $700,000 through a fraudulent investment scam.
Hull resident David Markiewicz was charged with securities fraud by Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin on Tuesday for overseeing the multi-year investment plan. According to allegations, Markiewicz raised money by creating a fictitious investment company, then falsified profit reports to conceal losses and used investor money for personal needs.
Markiewicz preyed on his former colleagues by proposing a securities program and get rich quick choices at a Boston hotel during lockdown from the pandemic’s peak, according to an administrative complaint filed by Galvin’s Securities Division.
According to the complaint, Markiewicz’s poor trading performance and usage of client funds caused 12 Massachusetts investors to lose over $700,000 over the course of eight years.
According to the lawsuit, Markiewicz established Nantasket Trading, LLC in 2017 in order to give the scheme respectability and demonstrate to investors that he oversaw the money through the company’s pooled investment fund.
However, according to Galvin’s office, Markiewicz has never registered to sell or trade securities in the state. Rather, he allegedly used his brokerage account to trade futures and options contracts and deposited the money into his personal bank account.
According to the complaint, he only moved a fraction of the investor monies into his brokerage account, using the rest for dining, travel, shopping, and an Arizona soccer academy.
To hide the scam, Markiewicz reportedly gave investors fictitious earnings reports that showed high growth. The complaint claims that even after losing almost all of the money, he persisted in enticing fresh investors, claiming that the timing couldn’t be better.
In addition to providing restitution with interest to investors, the Securities Division is requesting an order prohibiting Markiewicz and Nantasket Trading, LLC from registering in the Massachusetts securities industry, disgorgement of all ill-gotten gains related to the fraudulent scheme, and payment of an administrative fine.
The state’s top securities regulator is the secretary of the commonwealth. A hearing officer hears the division’s concerns in an administrative forum.
For Boston.com, Beth Treffeisen works as a general assignment reporter, covering local news, crime, and business in the New England area.
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