An advisor who was planning to start his own advisory firm is being sanctioned for breaching securities rules by taking confidential information about his existing clients amid preparations for the new firm.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) entered final judgments in a U.S. district court in California against Parker Terrill Austin and the firm he started, Embarcadero Capital Advisors, Inc., which imposes permanent injunctions against them, orders them to pay $265,725 in monetary sanctions, and bans Austin from working for a dealer or advisor for three years.
Austin and the firm consented to the entry of the final judgments without admitting the SEC’s allegations.
In its complaint, the regulator alleged that, in early 2023, while planning to start his own advisory firm, Austin allegedly sent confidential client information to his personal email — including client names, contact info, account balances and fees charged at his current firm — and forwarded some of that information to his future partner at Embarcadero.
After his firm discovered his alleged conduct, he was terminated, the SEC said — Austin then established Embarcadero and began recruiting those clients to follow him to the new firm.