(newburyportnews) -- In his role as financial planner, Thomas Riquier had a deal for his clients: Give me money to buy property and we’ll all share in the profits when the land is sold.
A total of 30 people, many of them elderly, trusted Riquier to deliver on his promise. Instead, according to state investigators, the longtime Danvers-based adviser kept all the money for himself.
Secretary of State William Galvin announced on Monday that Riquier has been censured, fined $50,000, barred from registering as an investment adviser or broker-dealer, and ordered to repay the victims of his decades-long real estate scam.
In total, Riquier defrauded investors and other clients out of at least $1 million over a 26-year period, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
“Unfortunately, this scheme went on for so long before it was brought to my office’s attention that many of the original investors and clients have died,” Galvin said in a press release. “It was my primary goal to ensure that the remaining elderly investors, who had not seen a penny returned on their now 27-year-old investment, receive restitution.”
Riquier worked at The Retirement Financial Center on Liberty Street in Danvers. No one answered the phone at the business on Monday.
According to a consent order entered into by Riquier and the Secretary of State’s Securities Division, Riquier solicited money from 30 people in 1990 and 1991 to invest in a fund to buy property in Rowley.
Investors, most of whom were his clients, gave him a total of $730,000, including $100,000 from one Danvers resident.
Investors were unaware, however, that Riquier already owned the property through a realty trust he had formed years before, meaning Riquier kept the entire $730,000.
In addition to the real estate scam, the Secretary of State’s office said Riquier solicited more than $800,000 in private loans from his clients, in violation of state and federal laws.
Riquier worked for United Planners Financial Services of America, which employed Riquier’s own son-in-law to supervise him. United Planners agreed to pay a fine of $100,000 and hire an independent consultant to assist in overhauling its supervisory procedures.
Riquier oversaw 1,771 accounts for 400 clients and produced more than $1.2 million per year for United Planners, according to the consent order.
Under the consent order, Riquier has 30 days to provide the state with a spreadsheet showing his restitution offers to the people he defrauded.
