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The Securities and Exchange Commission is suing the estate of an investment advisor who died late last month, claiming the deceased rep swindled investors out of $1.68 million in a Ponzi-like scheme.

John R. Brodacki was a Massachusetts-based advisor operating via his company Castle Hill Financial Group; according to the commission, Brodacki died on or around March 23 and worked in the industry starting around 2001.

According to the complaint filed Thursday, Brodacki’s victims included elderly retirees, including at least one client who was terminally ill. 

The SEC claimed that Brodacki, through Castle Hill, worked with about 110 advisory clients and managed about $24.5 million in assets. Under the advisory agreements, the clients would maintain brokerage accounts with a custodian, with Brodacki getting quarterly fees tied to AUM.

However, the commission claimed that Brodacki and Castle Hill convinced at least 18 clients to purportedly invest outside of the custodian brokerage accounts by sending funds directly to Castle Hill. Brodacki allegedly claimed he’d use the funds for various investments, including high-yield bank accounts, stocks, bonds and private companies’ securities. Brodacki had the clients send the funds by check or wire transfer directly to the firm.

“Rather than making the promised investments, Brodacki and Castle Hill misappropriated some or all of the money that their advisory clients sent directly to Castle Hill,” the complaint read. “Castle Hill’s bank records demonstrate that little to none of the clients’ funds it received for investment purposes was used to make investments.”

Instead, those bank records allegedly showed that Brodacki and the firm used clients’ funds for personal expenses, “including numerous vacations, tuition, an exclusive club membership, fine dining, car-related expenses and his mortgage.” Some of the funds were used for Castle Hill’s business expenses, including rent, technology and investment-related subscriptions.

According to SEC records, in July 2025, Brodacki was fired by Bay Colony Advisory Group, which was the RIA with which he was associated, allegedly because he “accepted a financial planning fee from a client which appears to be a loan from the client to Castle Hill Financial Group LLC, an entity believed to be owned or controlled by Mr. Brodacki, without notice to or approval from Bay Colony Advisors.”

However, according to the commission, Brodacki and Castle Hill continued to do business with some clients after he was fired, and misled clients about the circumstances; in the case of at least one advisor, Brodacki allegedly said he’d left the firm because it was “trying to steal their clients.”

Brodacki’s estate could not be reached for comment, and there are currently no attorneys listed as representing the estate or Castle Hill. The commission is seeking disgorgement, a civil penalty and a permanent injunction.