The Securities and Exchange Commission is moving to bar a former Financial Network Investment Corp. broker who
pled guilty to securities fraud, mail fraud and mortgage fraud last June in federal court in Philadelphia.
The SEC filed its administrative order seeking to bar the former broker, William Bucci, on Wednesday.
From 2003 through 2011, Mr. Bucci "conducted schemes in which he defrauded individuals out of more than $3.2 million," according to the SEC. He solicited certain of his brokerage customers, promising a 10% rate of return, which he claimed would be used to start a business to import olive oil and wine from Italy, according to the SEC.
Mr. Bucci's federal indictment claimed that no such business existed and that he used the majority of the funds for his own purposes. The indictment also alleged that he solicited loans from friends and associates based on false statements about his ability to repay the loans and that he also filed false tax returns from 2007 to 2011.
A lawyer for Mr. Bucci in the criminal matter, Nino Tinari, did not return a call to comment.
Mr. Bucci was registered with Financial Network, now known as Cetera Advisor Network, from August 2011 to May 2012. Prior to that, from April 2007 to August 2011, he was registered with Oppenheimer & Co. And from April 2002 to April 2007, he was associated with Ryan Beck & Co.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. barred Mr. Bucci in 2013,
according to his BrokerCheck profile.
"As a matter of policy, we do not publicly discuss regulatory or legal matters related to individuals no longer affiliated with our firm," said Cetera spokesman Joe Kuo.
