Former Financial Advisor Charged with Stealing from Clients

A Livermore man was charged Thursday with wire fraud and money laundering, according to the FBI.

The charges against Steven Kobayashi, a former financial adviser for the United Bank of Switzerland Financial Services, Inc. (UBS), are connected to a fraudulent scheme to obtain money from his clients, said U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag.

Kobayashi was charged at the federal district courthouse in Oakland. He previously worked in UBS' Walnut Creek office.

Officials said between April 2006 and August 2009, Kobayashi made unauthorized wire transfers from his clients’ UBS accounts into several Bank of America accounts that he maintained.

UBS clients at times authorized Kobayashi to transfer the funds to his bank accounts based on his false representations that the transfers were required to invest their funds, officials said.

At other times, Kobayashi forged or copied and pasted the signatures of his UBS clients on documents authorizing the transfer of the funds from the clients’ UBS accounts to Kobayashi’s bank accounts, according to a report from the United States Attorney's Office, Northern District of California.

Also included in the report is a forfeiture allegation. Upon conviction of the wire fraud offense, the forfeiture allegation would require Kobayashi to forfeit to the United States all property purchased from proceeds traceable to the wire fraud.

The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of money laundering is 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, or twice the value of the property involved.