SEC Alleges $9M N.Y. Scam

June 04—COLONIE — Federal securities regulators say that a Schenectady man who was barred from the investment brokerage industry duped investors out of nearly $9 million from an office on Wolf Road with claims of sky-high returns and access to hot IPOs like Twitter.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a federal judge in Manhattan to freeze the assets of Scott Valente and his firm, ELIV Group, which also has an office in Warwick, Orange County.

Lawyers for the SEC allege in court documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan that although Valente was banned for life from the industry nearly five years ago for "serial misconduct," he began pitching investments again in 2010, collecting $8.8 million from about 80 people over the past three-and-a-half years.

The SEC says Valente sent his clients fraudulent investment reports that claimed gains of more than 45 percent annually while he was actually losing money. None of the clients were named in the court documents, although they live in Albany, New York City and Orange County, according to the SEC.

Meanwhile, the agency claims that Valente spent $2.66 million of his customers' money for items such as credit card bills, a vacation home and jewelry. Valente's firm has only about $3.8 million left from what originally was collected from investors, the SEC alleges.

Reached by phone on Tuesday, Valente denied that he wasn't supposed to be soliciting investment clients or that he had duped clients.

"No, not at all," Valente said. "I'm sorry, but everything is completely wrong."

He declined additional comment.

The ELIV Group website says that Valente has "worked closely with hundreds of clients in the Albany Capital Metro Area" over the past 30 years, providing financial planning and wealth management.

In fact, the SEC claims, Valente, 56, was in the investment business legitimately for just 17 years before being expelled by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or Finra, in 2009.

Finra documents on Valente's career show that he worked at an Albany investment firm from 1996 to 2009.

The SEC says Valente has also filed for bankruptcy twice, most recently in 2004. Stock brokers are required to disclose bankruptcies to potential clients, but the SEC says that Valente didn't reveal his past financial problems.

"He said all the right things to make investors believe he was making the right investments and taking the right precautions with their money, but he was merely telling blatant false tales about the safety and success of the investments," Andrew Calamari, director of the SEC'sNew York regional office, said in a statement.

lrulison@timesunion.com, 518-454-5504, @larryrulison

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