The SEC filed a civil injunctive action against James Konaxis, a former Registered Rep with Sentinel Securities, Inc., a MA-based broker-dealer, charging him with defrauding a former customer who was left widowed by the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks.  Konaxis’s customer made her investments with funds she obtained through the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund.

Konaxis is alleged to have excessively traded his customer’s funds while knowingly or recklessly disregarding her interests - and supposedly earned commissions north of $550,000 over a 2-year span.  During that period, the Konaxis allegedly whittled down the value of his customer’s accounts from $3.7mn to $1.6mn. 

Konaxis has agreed to be barred from the industry and barred from participating in any offering of penny stock.  The SEC also seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus pre-judgment interest, and the imposition of a civil monetary penalty against Konaxis - those matters will be left to the discretion of the court.  The SEC investigation continues.   [SEC Litigation Rel. 21897, 3/23/11]