The SEC also claims that PC&J Joint Ventures LLC, a restaurant operating company partially owned by Darrah, was a relief defendant in the scheme, receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars of the misappropriated funds.
The SEC further alleges that Darrah helped Vivid Financial Management violate the SEC’s custody rule by failing to hire a public accountant for annual surprise examinations of the firm’s brokerage and bank accounts.
The fraud was concealed, the SEC says, by Darrah changing client account mailing addresses to her own, preventing clients from receiving statements from custodians.
Representatives from the SEC did not respond to comment requests. Darrah’s legal team includes Bruce M. Lewitas of Lewitas Hyman PC and Edward M. Robinson of the Law Office of Edward M. Robinson. PC&J Joint Ventures LLC is represented by Andrew M. Purdy of Brown Neri Smith & Khan LLP and Jeremy W. Faith and Meghann Triplett of Margulies Faith LLP.
The case, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Julie Anne Darrah et al., is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.
