Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office Announces Arrest and Arraignment of Former Securities Broker Charged with Stealing Nearly $350,000 from Former Clients

BARNSTABLE - Attorney General Martha Coakley's Office announces that a former financial broker was arrested and arraigned Thursday in connection with allegedly stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his former clients. Shane Selewach, age 46, of Hyannis, is charged with Larceny Over $250 (6 counts). Massachusetts State Police arrested Selewach at his residence in Hyannis without incident. He was then transported to Barnstable District Court where he was arraigned before District Court Judge Don L. Carpenter. At arraignment, Selewach plead not guilty and was ordered held on $20,000 bail.

In 2007, the Attorney General's Office began an investigation after Selewach's alleged activities had been referred by the Massachusetts Securities Division (MSD) in the Secretary of State's Office. The MSD's investigation concluded that while a securities broker-dealer for a major financial company, Selewach had misappropriated client funds he had been entrusted to invest. As a result, Selewach was fired from his former employer in April 2006 and the MSD suspended Selewach's registration, effective May 2006.

Investigators from the Attorney General's Office discovered that during the period of July 2005 through November 2008, Selewach allegedly solicited investors for funds for proposed investments such as a commodities hedge funds or real estate. Selewach allegedly deposited these funds in various personal and business accounts, withdrawing these funds for personal use such as paying his mortgage and international travel. Selewach allegedly failed to tell these investors, some of whom were his old clients, that he was not registered as a securities broker. Authorities allege that as a result of this scheme, Selewach stole nearly $350,000 from six investors.

Selewach was arrested and arraigned last Thursday in Barnstable District Court where he entered a plea of not guilty and was ordered held on bail. He is next scheduled to appear in Barnstable District Court on October 21, 2009.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Michael Pine, of Attorney General Coakley's Corruption and Fraud Division, and was investigated by Massachusetts State Police assigned to the Attorney General's Office and Jennifer Chaves of the Financial Investigations Division of the Attorney General's Office.

##########