24/7 Wall St.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently charged a former movie producer and self-proclaimed private equity executive with defrauding investors in hedge funds and using the money he stole to support his extravagant lifestyle.

According to the agency, David R. Bergstein of Hidden Hills, California, stole millions from investors in 2011 and 2012 and used the money for purchases with a firearms dealer, an antique watch and jewelry retailer, and a bonsai tree nursery.

The SEC’s complaint alleged that the scheme relied on a series of intricate transactions by Weston Capital Asset Management, then a registered investment adviser, with two of its unregistered hedge funds, Weston Capital Partners Master Fund II Ltd. and the Wimbledon Fund SPC Class TT Segregated Portfolio.

In one transaction, the SEC alleged that Bergstein misappropriated at least $2.3 million of money that was purportedly meant for investments in medical-billing businesses and helped Weston Capital Asset Management conceal the true nature of the transaction from Weston investors. In a second allegedly fraudulent transaction, Bergstein stole more than $3.5 million of funds also purportedly meant, in part, for investments in medical-billing businesses.

Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, commented:

The use of elaborate corporate transactions to mask old-fashioned theft of investor monies will not prevent the SEC from enforcing the federal securities laws and protecting investors. Violators will be held to account no matter the artifice used to perpetrate their frauds.

In a parallel action, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced criminal charges against Bergstein and Keith D. Wellner, who was formerly Capital Asset Management’s general counsel, chief compliance officer, and COO. Wellner previously settled SEC charges filed in federal district court in Florida and has been barred from working in the securities industry.