Michigan Investment Advisor Steven F. Muntin Agrees to Final SEC Judgement on Fraud Allegations
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on May 11, 2022, permanently barred Steven F. Muntin from “acting as a broker or investment adviser or otherwise associating with firms that sell securities or provide investment advice to the public.”1 Muntin, age 57, had worked as an investment advisor in Michigan since 1992. He is the founder of Executive Asset Management, Inc., based in Fenton, Michigan, which he solely operated from 1992 through February 2020.
At one time the company had approximately $26 million in assets under management. It was registered as an investment adviser with the SEC from 2002 until October 2012 and with the State of Michigan from October 2012 through 2014. Muntin also worked in the Flint offices of Taylor & Morgan Asset Management, Inc. from December 2015 through February 2020.2
The SEC alleged in their complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division on November 5, 2021, that in early 2015 Muntin brought his investment advisory client accounts from Executive Asset Management to Taylor & Morgan Asset Management as part of his employment agreement.3 The agreement also stipulated that Muntin would receive 85 to 96 percent of the assets-under-management (AUM) fees for these advisory clients.
At Taylor & Morgan, Muntin provided securities investment advice to 50 clients, primarily located in eastern Michigan, from December 2015 through February 2020. Taylor & Morgan personnel were unaware, however, that Muntin continued to also provide advice on certain assets to some of the clients which he had transferred to Taylor & Morgan, asking those clients to pay additional AUM fees to Executive Asset Management.
One of those clients, identified in the SEC complaint as Client “A” wrote checks to Executive Asset Management, while a client of Taylor & Morgan, totaling $305,750 between March 2016 and February 2020. Muntin also overcharged this elderly client at least $9,000 in AUM fees.4
Muntin was to use Client A’s payments to Executive Asset Management to invest in securities. Instead Mutin used Client A’s funds to pay for his own real estate taxes, health insurance, credit card bills and boat and car loans.
Muntin consented to the SEC judgement without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations. In addition to being permanently barred from the securities industry Muntin was ordered to repay the ill-gotten gains (a disgorgement) of $314,799, plus prejudgment interest of $46,121, as well as a civil penalty of $258,557.
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1 BrokerCheck Report, Steven F. Muntin
Link: https://brokercheck.finra.org/individual/summary/1796150
2 Investment Adviser Public Disclosure (IAPD) Database Report, Steven Frederick Muntin
Link: https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/individual/individual_1796150.pdf
3 SEC Complaint: Case No. 21-cv-12607
Link: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/complaints/2021/comp25255.pdf
4 SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Michigan Investment Adviser for Fraud, Litigation Release No. 25388, 5/9/2022
Link: https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2022/lr25388.htm