A Skillman woman has been accused of misappropriation of $4.1 million she received from clients she served as an investment adviser.
By: Helen Pettigrew
MONTGOMERY Alexis Arlett, a resident of the Skillman area, has been accused of misappropriating about $4.1 million from clients she represented as an investment adviser.
She and her husband, Michael Kochmann, have consented to an order freezing their assets, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC alleges that between September 1995 and November 2000, Ms. Arlett made excessive withdrawals from the broker-dealer where her clients had accounts, falsely claiming that these funds represented fees owed by clients. Ms. Arlett’s clients had signed agreements allowing her to obtain funds for fees directly from the broker-dealer, according to the SEC.
The commission was alerted to the fraud by the broker-dealer, which noticed excessive withdrawals in November, according to David Horowitz, assistant district administrator in the Philadelphia office of the SEC.
Mr. Kochmann, although not formally charged, has been named as a relief defendant in the case because Ms. Arlett deposited some of the stolen money into a bank account jointly owned with him, Mr. Horowitz said.
According to Mr. Horowitz, Ms. Arlett took the $4.1 million from 32 separate accounts belonging to nine of her 14 client groups.
"She managed funds for 14 investor groups which represented 55 separate accounts," said Mr. Horowitz.
Ms. Arlett, who is the president and owner of Arlett and Associates Inc. in Skillman, allegedly took about $2.5 million of the total from the accounts of a single family, according to the SEC.
Ms. Arlett allegedly transferred the stolen funds to several bank accounts and used the money for lavish personal living expenses, including more than $1.3 million in jewelry and hundreds of thousands of dollars in artwork, according to the SEC.
Ms. Arlett’s attorney, Jeremy Frey of Cherry Hill, refused to comment on the case Thursday.
Mr. Horowitz said the SEC is seeking civil penalties, permanent injunctions and the return of any remaining assets to investors from Ms. Arlett, Mr. Kochmann and from Arlett and Associates.
"Typically what we do, to the extent any money is obtained, is we distribute it to investors (who have had money stolen)," Mr. Horowitz said. "The primary purpose of our action is to stop wrongdoing and have the wrongdoer disgorge the wrongly gotten gains," he said.
Mr. Horowitz said whether investors will receive some or all of the amount removed from their accounts remains to be seen and depends on the amount obtained from Ms. Arlett and her company.