Joseph Michael Todd Charged by SEC

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed partially settled charges against Joseph Michael "Mike" Todd, a resident of Panama City, Florida, and his entities Todd Financial Services, LLC (TFS) and TFS Insurance Services LLC (TFS Insurance). Joseph Michael Todd a former financial advisor/broker with Centaurus Financial was charged by the SEC in an alleged scheme to defraud at least 20 brokerage clients, including seniors and disabled individuals, of at least $3 million.

The partially settled complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, alleges that while associated with the registered investment advisor firm and broker/dealer, Joseph Michael Todd instructed his brokerage clients to write checks addressed to TFS, TFS Insurance, or Todd himself, all entities controlled by Todd, and falsely claimed that the funds would be invested in securities on their behalf.

According to the published release from the SEC, allegedly, Joseph Michael Todd instead misappropriated investors' funds and then kept the money for his own personal use, using it on real estate, boating, hunting, casinos, and adult entertainment. The complaint also alleges that in order to conceal and continue his scheme, Mike Todd allegedly presented his defrauded clients with forged account statements or portfolio holdings statements that contained falsified entries indicating the clients were invested in the products that were promised by Todd.

The SEC complaint alleges that many of the victims of Joseph Michael Todd's scheme were seniors and/or disabled individuals. According to the complaint, Todd also made Ponzi-like payments to at least one client by using other clients' funds to make regular deposits from a TFS bank account into this client's account, which he falsely claimed were interest payments or regular distributions on an investment.

The SEC complaint charged Joseph Michael Todd and Todd Financial Services with violating antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, while Todd, Todd Financial Services and TFS Insurance Services were charged with violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the SEC's Rule 10b-5.

According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, available to the public on FINRA’s website, Joseph Michael Todd, was in the securities industry for 33 years and was listed with 6 firms. Todd was listed with Centaurus Financial of Crystal River, Florida from 08/29/2016 - 07/21/2022. Todd was discharged from Centaurus in July of 2022 following allegations of, “The Firm is investigating whether the Registered Representative violated Firm policy and industry rules with respect to an allegation of selling away and the receipt of customer funds. The Registered Representative has not cooperated with the investigation. The investigation is ongoing.”

BrokerCheck lists 15 Disclosures on his FINRA CRD report, 12 are “Customer Disputes.” Nine of the disputes, filed in 2022 and 2023, are still pending.

Joseph Michael Todd was suspended by FINRA in April of 2023 indefinitely.  FINRA stated that the suspension, “Continues until required payment is made or discharged.”

If you or an elderly loved one have experienced financial losses due to the actions or recommendations of the former broker/financial advisor from Centaurus Financial of Crystal River, Florida, Joseph Michael Todd, contact the Florida-based Soreide Law Group and speak to an experienced securities lawyer at no cost regarding the possible recovery of your investment losses through a FINRA arbitration at:  888-760-6552.

Soreide Law Group represents our clients nationwide before FINRA on a contingency fee basis, no fee to you if no recovery.