A former U.S. financial advisor who was sanctioned by regulators last year is going to jail for stealing from a client.
In August 2024, a former advisor with Securities America Advisors, Inc. and Securities America, Inc., Michael Patrick Raineri, settled allegations from the U.S. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. (FINRA) that he breached securities rules by improperly taking funds from an elderly client.
Raineri consented to an industry ban and a US$20,000 fine without admitting or denying the allegations, but he was subsequently indicted on a criminal charge, and in June he pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
He has now been sentenced to 32 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay US$531,411 in restitution by a judge in the U.S. district court in Seattle.
According to court filings, the elderly victim inherited about US$2 million in 2013 and hired a team of advisors, including Raineri, to help manage the inheritance to finance his retirement.
U.S. authorities alleged that, between 2016 and 2020, Raineri used 12 pre-signed cheques to steal almost US$400,000 from the client’s account — which he passed through another client’s account before depositing it into his own. He later transferred another US$115,226 from the victim’s account directly to his own.
At the sentencing hearing, the judge said, “Raineri took advantage of someone who trusted him as a financial expert. The majority of Americans look to financial advisors as experts in their field, similar to how people go to doctors. These people trust these experts with their life.”