CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Stockbroker Arrested in Fraud

A stockbroker was arrested in the offices of Shearson Lehman Hutton in San Francisco on suspicion of defrauding one investor of more than $500,000 and diverting $2 million in funds belonging to 20 other investors into his personal account. Conrado Berenguer Topacio was accused in a federal complaint of bank and wire fraud in his handling of the account. An attorney for Shearson, which cooperated in the investigation of Topacio’s alleged account tampering, told the FBI that Topacio issued Shearson checks to his client accounts, but then endorsed the checks to himself. Topacio, who denied diverting any funds from investor accounts, told the FBI he recruited offshore investors to begin stock trading accounts. According to the FBI affidavit, the investors asked for a 10% to 13% return in their investment and allowed Topacio complete discretion to invest the funds for one year.