A Branford man has been barred from the securities industry after posing as the president of real estate development businesses to defraud 10 investors out of $2 million, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Juan Jose Alvarez De Lugo was arrested in September 2013 and sentenced to four years in prison last Feburary after pleading guilty.
The SEC said he presented himself as the president of successful companies specializing in real estate development and sold investments promising returns of 20 percent per year.
Instead of investing that money, he used it for his own personal gain, according to the SEC.
After spending the money, he wrote a letter to the investors saying their payements were delayed because he was working to obtain an "investor/broker license" for one of his companies, the SEC said.
As part of a settled administrative order imposed Friday, Alvarez De Lugo has been banned from the securities industry and imposed a penny stock bar.
