SEC bars adviser for commingling funds.

WASHINGTON -- The Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday barred Florida investment adviser Sharon Baker from the securities business for failing to invest $415,000 of her clients' money in tax-exempt money market funds as she had promised.

Instead of investing in high-yield, low-risk funds, Baker used the clients' money between August 1991 and December 1992 for personal expenses, among other things, the SEC charged in a complaint filed against Baker early last year.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a preliminary injunction June 19 against Baker barring her from further violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws.

The SEC charged that Baker commingled her clients' funds in her personal securities account and then used the funds for personal expenses, to make "interest" payments to investors, and to buy options and other stocks.

The commission also said she failed to tell investors that she was fired by Merrill Lynch & Co. in 1987 because she did unauthorized trading in customer accounts, misappropriated investor funds, and falsified firm books and records.

The SEC also said that it has barred the former chief financial officer of defunct Arkansas bond dealer Swink & Co. from the securities business. The commission charged that Louis Jules Pagillo aided and abetted officials of the government and municipal bond firm in failing to maintain sufficient net capital and other violations of the securities laws.

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