WASHINGTON (CN) - Phoenix-based Oxford Investment Partners and its owner Walter J. Clarke persuaded clients to put money into two businesses without telling clients he co-owned one of them and had financial ties to the owner of the other, the SEC says in Federal Court.
"Both investments later failed," the SEC said in a statement announcing its cease and desist order. "And when Clarke's own financial problems prompted him to sell a stake in Oxford to a client, he fraudulently inflated the value of his firm by at least $1.5 million to make the client overpay by at least $112,000."
Clarke, 49, of Phoenix, owner and principal of Oxford, had 364 client accounts and managed about $224, the SEC said in its order.
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