A federal grand jury has indicted a Seaford man on charges that he allegedly defrauded investors out of $500,000 while he worked as chief compliance officer of a Woodbury-based brokerage firm.
William Michael Quigley was charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering. He is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday at Central Islip federal court.
“Rather than use his training and expertise to protect these investors who were told that their money would be invested in well-known U.S. companies and funds, Quigley helped his co-conspirators steal the funds by transferring them to the Philippines and using them for his personal use,” said Kelly Currie, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Authorities said the 47-year-old man and his alleged co-conspirators told overseas investors that they were registered brokers and that they would invest the victims’ money in companies and investment funds such as Dell, Berkshire Hathaway and BlackRock.
But Quigley and his alleged co-conspirators were not registered brokers. Instead of investing the money, they opened several bank accounts in New York where they transferred more than $500,000 of the $800,000 funds to other accounts in the Philippines, according to investigators.
Quigley allegedly used some of the money to pay for trips. If convicted, Quigley faces up to 20 years in prison.
