📋 Tender Overview
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged former U.S. Army financial counselor Caz L. Craffy for defrauding Gold Star family members and others by engaging in unauthorized tradingincluding of life insurance and family survivor benefits they received following the death of an active duty service memberand for recommending excessive trades and higher risk strategies that did not match customers investment profiles.According to the SECs complaint Craffy of Colts Neck New Jersey was permitted to provide general financial education to service members families through his job as a U.S. Army financial counselor. However as alleged between May 2018 and November 2022 Craffy used his position and access to manipulate grieving family members by directing them to transfer their benefits into brokerage accounts he managed outside of his official duties with the U.S. Army. Once the funds were deposited Craffy engaged in unauthorized trading and trading that did not match his customers risk profiles and investment objectives and exposed them to higher risks of loss from excessive trading concentration and lack of diversification. In that 54-month span Craffys customers incurred more than 1.64 million in commissions and fees most of which Craffy pocketed while the accounts he managed suffered approximately 1.79 million in realized losses and faced additional unrealized losses of approximately 1.8 million. In one particularly egregious offense Craffy misappropriated 50000 from the IRA account of a minor child whose parent had died on active duty.Rather than help Gold Star families best use their survivor benefits we allege that Mr. Craffy manipulated them to profit from their grief said Gurbir S. Grewal Director of the SECs Enforcement Division. We owe an incredible debt of gratitude to these families who have sacrificed so much in service to our country. I am grateful to the SEC staff for holding Mr. Craffy accountable for his shameless conduct and delivering some measure of justice to these incredible families.As our complaint alleges Craffy repeatedly defrauded families whose loved ones gave the ultimate sacrifice to their country said Antonia M. Apps Regional Director of the SECs New York Regional Office. In so doing he violated not only the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws but the Commissions Regulation Best Interest as well. The SEC will aggressively use all tools at its disposal to pursue and hold accountable bad actors who victimize investors whether in the military or otherwise.
