A former JPMorgan Chase money manager with an otherwise spotless record stole $20 million from his clients over four years — and used the cash to pay bills, his mortgage and to invest in his own account, federal authorities alleged Thursday.
But the disgraced former financial adviser, Michael J. Oppenheim, couldn’t even enjoy much of the stolen loot as he lost nearly all the cash he invested by making wrong-way options plays in Apple, Tesla, Google and Netflix, according to court papers.
Oppenheim, 48, of Livingston, NJ, preyed on the trust he built up with his well-heeled clients — one even handed over $1 million after the adviser promised to invest it in municipal bonds — to carry out the fraud, according to both the criminal charges filed by Manhattan US Attorney Preet Bharara and the civil charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
But instead of using his clients’ cash for legitimate investments — Oppenheim put the money right in his pocket, it is alleged.
Some of the ill-gotten gains not lost on bad trades were used to pay down the mortgage of his posh, 2,800 square-foot Spanish colonial home, the SEC said.
Oppenheim appeared in Manhattan federal court Thursday afternoon and was held overnight while the government fitted him with an electronic ankle bracelet.
Robert Gamburg, Oppenheim’s lawyer, said that his client will plead not guilty.
Gamburg expects the money man to be released Friday on a $1 million bond secured by his home and four co-signers.
“Michael Oppenheim is alleged to have misrepresented to investment advisory clients what he would do with their money,” Bharara said in a statement.
“The allegations include that he lied to his clients and misappropriated their money,” he said.
JPMorgan, as it discovered the fraud, alerted prosecutors in early March, according to a person familiar with the investigation.
“We are sorry and angry that this happened,” Michael Fusco, a JPMorgan spokesman, told The Post. “We always stand by our customers and will insure that no customer who had their money stolen will lose any funds related to this.”
Oppenheim went so far to conceal his bad trades that he would move money from a web of clients to make it look like he hadn’t transferred out the funds, and would copy and paste one client’s name and account number on the statement of another, unrelated client, the SEC said.
Oppenheim had worked at JPMorgan in New York since May 2004 and did not have any previous complaints from clients, according to records kept by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.