SEC Charges Starr's Attorney With Aiding Fraud

U.S. securities regulators have charged an attorney for former financial adviser Kenneth Ira Starr with aiding Starr's alleged multimillion-dollar fraud.

Attorney Jonathan Star Bristol allegedly allowed Starr to use his attorney trust accounts as conduits when Starr took money from advisory clients, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in statement Thursday.

An attorney for Bristol could not immediately be reached for comment.

Starr, whose celebrity clients included director Martin Scorsese and singer Carly Simon, pleaded guilty in September to wire fraud, money laundering and adviser fraud.

More than $25 million belonging to Starr's clients flowed through Bristol's attorney trust accounts, the SEC alleged. Bristol then transferred the funds to Starr and his two companies for personal use, according to the SEC.

Bristol never disclosed the existence of the attorney trust accounts to the prominent international law firm where he worked at the time, the SEC said.