The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a former NAPFA chair with defrauding clients. Financial Planning reports the SEC's claim that Mark Spangler defrauded clients of $47.7 million by investing in two "risky" companies that Spangler co-founded.

The SEC announced Thursday that Spangler also faces parallel charges in federal court.

Jon Zulauf, a partner at Zulauf & Chambliss Law Offices in Seattle, represents Spangler.

Word of the allegations first arose last November (see MFWire) when it was reported that the FBI was investigating Spangler's business.

Spangler was chairman of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) from 1996 to 1998. More recently he acted as a fee-based RIA at The Spangler Group, where he was president and CEO. That firm filed for bankruptcy last year.

The SEC alleges that Spangler started to invest a majority of the funds managed at the RIA into two private technology companies starting in 2003. He founded both of those companies. One of those ventures later failed after receiving more than $42 million from the investment funds. 

Edited by: Sean Hanna, Editor in Chief


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