Recovering Stolen Money for Clients of Puerto Rico Transamerica Broker Pedro Gonzalez-Seijo

If you lost money with Puerto Rico financial advisor Pedro Gonzalez-Seijo, Stoltmann Law Offices may be able to help you recover these losses. Gonzalez-Seijo, a registered representative of Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc. from September 1991 through May 2016, solicited clients to purchase variable annuities, but instead deposited their money into his personal bank account. The Securities and Exchange Commission barred Gonzalez-Seijo from the securities industry on July 5, 2019. Through its investigation, the SEC found that he stole $480,813.15 from five clients between 2013 and 2016. He pled guilty to one count of bank fraud in the criminal action that was pending against him in the United States District Court for the District of Puerto Rico on January 31, 2019.

Rather than terminate Gonzalez-Seijo, Transamerica gave him a slap on the wrist when they discovered “unauthorized check withdrawals” in client accounts and permitted him to resign. He did not register with any other broker dealer after resigning from Transamerica in May 2016 and, given the bar imposed by the SEC last week, he will no longer be allowed to work in the securities industry in any capacity. According to his FINRA BrokerCheck Report, Gonzalez-Seijo also sold life insurance and annuities through PGS Insurance, Inc. There are two client complaints disclosed on his BrokerCheck report for this scheme, one has been closed and one is pending.

Stoltmann Law Offices is highly experienced in representing investors who lost money in similar theft and selling away, or “Ponzi” schemes. You can find information on just a few of those cases in which Stoltmann Law Offices successfully recovered their clients’ stolen assets, and in some cases attorney’s fees, costs, interest and punitive damages on our website. “Selling away” is when a broker sells an investment to clients that is either unregistered, or not approved by the brokerage firm. Common forms of these alleged investments are promissory notes, bonds, and limited partnerships. Often times the advisor uses a shell company to misappropriate client funds. In some cases the advisor will even represent that he is investing the money in publicly traded stocks and mutual funds and will go as far as creating phony account statements to hide the theft. If the broker is not properly supervised by his firm, he can engage in this scheme for a long enough time period to abscond with the money, leaving their clients with nothing by the time they discover that the investment was fake.

Luckily for victims, brokerage firms like Transamerica owe clients a duty to supervise their financial advisors, like Gonzalez-Seijo, and can be held financially responsible for these losses. Importantly, in some cases brokerage firms can be held liable for losses impacting not only their clients, but also those who were clients of the broker, but not necessarily the firm. So if you invested directly with Gonzalez-Seijo but did not have an account with Transamerica, we may still be able to help you.

Because cases against brokerage firms, including Transamerica, must be filed in FINRA Arbitration, Stoltmann Law Offices has represented clients who live all over the world, including Puerto Rico, for fifteen years. Our attorneys provide free evaluations and work on a contingency fee basis, meaning that we do not get paid until you do. If you suspect that you suffered losses with former Transamerica advisor Pedro Gonzalez-Seijo, contact our office at 312-332-4200 for a free evaluation.