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(Photo via www.SeniorLiving.Org, using a Creative Commons license,)

The retirees thought they were securing their futures when Richard Cody offered his services as a financial advisor 15 years ago.

Instead, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleges, they became victims of a web of lies and fraud that grew in complexity as their retirement accounts lost nearly all their value.

Cody, the founder of Boston Investment Partners, allegedly forged signatures, fabricated financial documents and told his clients their accounts were healthy, while their funds dwindled to almost nothing.

"Cody's deceptions caused these clients to believe that their retirement savings

were secure when, in fact, they were not. The sheer duration of Cody's deception deprived these clients of any opportunity to take measures to decrease or to stop their losses or even to work longer to make up those losses," the SEC alleged in the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston on Dec. 12. "With their prime working years now well behind them, Cody's deceptive scheme has irreparably damaged their financial security, causing immense anxiety and fear and creating the real possibility that they may suffer further dire consequences."

Cody did not return a written request for comment sent through Boston Investment Partners; a phone number listed on the firm's website was disconnected as of Tuesday morning.

The SEC filed its civil suit on behalf of three sets of victims, all of which began a financial relationship with Cody in 2001 or 2002. The last names of the victims are not identified in the suit.

According to Boston Investment Partners' website, Cody started his investment career with Merrill Lynch in Baltimore in 1996. He moved to Boston in 2000, and began acquiring individual clients.

The next year, he delivered a presentation to Verizon workers and drew the attention of Paul M., who hired Cody as his broker. He entrusted his entire retirement savings -- $377,000 -- to Cody, who invested them in retirement accounts with Smith Barney, where he worked at the time.

Paul and his wife Maureen kept their money with Cody as he moved from firm to firm, and regularly received assurances that their money was safe.

By 2004, however, Cody's investments had cost them dearly. And, the SEC alleges, he had begun to lie.

"By that time, Paul and Maureen M.'s retirement accounts had declined approximately thirty three percent (33%) in value - a material fact that would have assumed actual significance in the deliberations of a reasonable retirement account investor," the SEC wrote. "By January 2009, Paul and Maureen M.'s retirement accounts had plummeted to a stated value of approximately $38,000, or approximately 90% less than their starting value. In light of this material drop in account value, Cody's statements to Paul and Maureen M. that their accounts were holding value and that they were on track for a well-funded retirement were deceptive and misleading."

The deceptions were a personal betrayal as well, the SEC claimed.

"My husband did not trust many people, but he trusted Cody," Maureen M. wrote in an affidavit. "I also trusted Cody. My husband and I also liked Cody, and we became friends with him. Cody attended wedding ceremonies for some of our children."

Cody told the couple that their monthly checks were coming from interest earned on their investments, while he was actually draining the account's principal, Maureen said in her affidavit. And when Paul confronted Cody about a statement showing a major drop in funds, Cody allegedly lied and said he had invested in "corporate bonds" that were not accounted for on the statement.

After Paul died in 2011, Maureen took possession of the retirement fund and kept the money with Cody. She was not aware that her account had declined to the point where it could no longer pay out her monthly withdrawal, and Cody had begun secretly paying her from a separate account while claiming she had hundreds of thousands of dollars remaining.

Cody also allegedly fabricated financial documents, including an inaccurate 1099 and a fake annuity account used to convince her not to withdraw $10,000 from the depleted account.

The pattern was the same for Kenneth E. and Carol and Ray B., fellow Verizon retirees who were referred to Cody by friends and family in 2002. Each had over $400,000 in retirement funds when they began their relationship with Cody; each had their accounts lose their value while Cody claimed all was well.

By May 2016, Kenneth E had no money in his retirement fund, according to an affidavit filed with the suit.

The SEC's claim is not Cody's first brush with financial regulators. In 2008, the Department of Enforcement of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority filed a complaint against him, alleging that he had engaged in "unsuitable and excessive trading" of his clients' funds and overstated account values. He was suspended from working as a broker for a year in 2013, after a lengthy appeals process.

The SEC alleged that Cody continued to manage his clients' accounts during his suspension -- a violation that led to his firing from Concorde Investment Services in 2016. He then joined IFS Securities, and was promptly terminated after the firm discovered that he had forged signatures on financial documents.

The SEC is asking federal judge F. Dennis Saylor to temporarily freeze Cody's accounts as the lawsuit proceeds. The agency is also requesting that Cody and Boston Investment Partners be forced to return ill-gotten funds, and pay additional civil penalties.