Advisor Pleads Guilty to Bilking 45 Clients in Cherry-Picking Scheme

A Greenwich, Connecticut financial advisor waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty on Thursday to defrauding over 45 clients out of more than $2.7 million combined as part of a “cherry-picking” securities scheme, according to court documents and the Justice Department.

Jonathan Vincent Glenn, 54, who owned the firm Glenn Capital in Greenwich, pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud.

Ththe charge carries a maximum prison term of 25 years and a fine of up to about $5.4 million, Vanessa Roberts Avery, U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut, and Robert Fuller, special agent in charge of the New Haven Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced Friday.

Glenn was released, pending sentencing, which is scheduled for Dec. 28, the Justice Department said.

“Cherry-picking” is a fraudulent securities trading practice in which the perpetrator executes trades without assigning those trades to a particular trading account until he or she determines whether or not the trade has become profitable or suffered losses, the Justice Department explained in the announcement.

The responsible individual then allocates trades that were profitable to favored accounts (often the individual’s own accounts) and assigns unprofitable trades to disfavored client accounts.

Through Glenn Capital, Glenn offered his clients portfolio management services including asset allocation and asset selection. He managed all of Glenn Capital’s advisory clients’ accounts and was authorized to make trading decisions on each client’s behalf without seeking approval for each trade, according to the Justice Department.

Glenn placed trades on behalf of clients, himself or family members by trading directly in the relevant individual account, or by placing block trades in Glenn Capital’s omnibus account and allocating block trades among relevant individual accounts.