Several California residents are suing financial advising company Total Wealth Management over an alleged scheme to obtain funds from its clients under false pretenses.
Albert Calderon, Laurence Gleason, Inga Gleason and Susan Antonucci, among others in the class, filed a class action complaint May 16, 2014, in the Superior Court of California County of San Diego against Total Wealth Management and other defendants in the class, alleging securities fraud, unfair competition, breach of fiduciary duty, constructive trust, conversion and elder abuse.
The complaint alleges that Total Wealth Management and its affiliated companies artificially inflated portfolio values and investors' risk of loss in order to pay themselves higher performance fees.
Plaintiffs seeking to invest in their retirement first heard about TWM's alleged scheme on a San Diego radio program the company conducted.
TWM was also being investigated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over charges of fraud, which the company did not disclose to investors in the class, according to the complaint.
The complaint states that the plaintiffs would not have invested with TWM had they known the above facts. As a result, the plaintiffs suffered direct financial loss.
The plaintiffs seek damages according to proof and punitive damages on the fraud claims.
They are represented by Michael J. Aguirre and Maria C. Severson of Aguirre & Severson LLP in San Diego, and by Charles S. LiMandri and Paul M. Jonna of the Law Offices of Charles S. LiMandri APC in Rancho Santa Fe.
Superior Court of California County of San Diego case number: 3:15-cv-01632-BAS-NLS