By The Star Staff
A 64-year-old investment adviser who participated in a group scheme to defraud $9 million from the municipality of Mayagüez has settled a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), according to a recent filing.
From at least 2016 through 2018, Roberto Mejill-Tellado, sometimes referred to in the filing as the respondent, was contracted by the City of Mayagüez as a consultant and financial adviser through his company Premier Investment and Financial Services Group LLC.
For a fee, he acted as an unregistered investment adviser within the meaning of the Advisers Act by, among other things, providing investment advice regarding investments in securities to the city and Mayagüez Economic Development Inc. (MEDI), a Puerto Rico municipal enterprise. Mejill-Tellado has never been registered with the SEC in any capacity, according to the filing.
On June 13, 2022, Mejill-Tellado pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and one count of engaging in a monetary transaction in property derived from a specified unlawful activity in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1957 before the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico, in United States v. Roberto Mejill-Tellado. He is awaiting sentencing.
In his guilty plea, Mejill-Tellado stipulated that from on or about March 2016 to on or about June 2018, he conspired with others to defraud the Municipality of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico and MEDI to obtain money and property by means of materially false and misleading statements involving the city’s funds.
Mejill-Tellado has submitted an offer of settlement which the SEC has determined to accept, according to an April 4 filing.
Accordingly, the SEC ordered that he be, and hereby is barred from association with any broker, dealer, investment adviser, municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor, transfer agent, or nationally recognized statistical rating organization; and any reapplication for association by the respondent will be subject to the applicable laws and regulations governing the reentry process, and reentry may be conditioned upon a number of factors, including, but not limited to, compliance with the commission’s order and payment of any or all of the following: any disgorgement or civil penalties ordered by a court against the respondent in any action brought by the commission; any disgorgement amounts ordered against the respondent for which the commission waived payment; any arbitration award related to the conduct that served as the basis for the commission order; and any self-regulatory organization arbitration award to a customer, whether or not related to the conduct that served as the basis for the commission order; and any restitution order by a self-regulatory organization, whether or not related to the conduct that served as the basis for the commission order, the filing reads.