MIKE FREW, Formerly of Wells Fargo Advisors, Arrested on Fraud Charges

MICHAEL JAMES FREW (MIKE FREW) CRD#: 812805, a 70-year-old Hillsborough, California resident formerly with Wells Fargo Advisors in San Francisco, was arrested and charged with mail fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering for running an alleged real estate Ponzi scheme, according to federal prosecutors in San Francisco.
MIKE FREW’s alleged scheme began in 2010.  According to the federal prosecutors, Frew told several of his victims that he was going to invest their money into real estate both abroad and in the United States.  However, Frew allegedly used his clients’ money to finance his own personal lifestyle, play the stock market, and to repay other victims of the scheme some of their investments.
According to prosecutors, allegedly MIKE FREW had the victims wire money for real estate investments in areas that had recently been under distress due to natural disasters. Frew allegedly received over $380,000 from one couple he promised a 10 percent return on their investment, but then used their money for his own personal finances.
MIKE FREW was arrested in Nevada and arraigned in U.S. District Court on two counts each of wire fraud, mail fraud and money laundering on July 26, 2018.  According to federal prosecutors, Frew faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for each count of wire fraud and mail fraud, 10 years for each count of money laundering and up to $250,000 in fines and additional restitution to his victims.
FINRA has barred MIKE FREW from acting as a broker or otherwise associating with a broker-dealer firm.
According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, which is available to the public on FINRA’s website, MIKE FREW has 13 Disclosures on his report, 10 of which are Customer Disputes dating back to 1998. Nine of the Customer Disputes resulted in monetary settlements, 2 of the settlement amounts were over $1 million.
MIKE FREW was in the securities industry for 38 years and listed with 4 firms, the most recent are listed below:
07/01/2003 - 01/21/2014  WELLS FARGO ADVISORS LLC - SAN FRANCISCO, CA
03/18/1988 - 07/01/2003  PRUDENTIAL SECURITIES INC - NEW YORK, NY
If you or were a victim in the alleged Ponzi scheme of former WELLS FARGO ADVISORS LLC of SAN FRANCISCO, CA, broker MIKE FREW, contact Soreide Law Group and speak to a 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 clients nationally before FINRA and we operate on a contingency fee basis.