SEC charges local investment adviser, a former math teacher, with fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the owner of an Indianapolis-area investment advisory firm with violating federal law by selling $13 million in high-risk securities to more than 120 clients without disclosing that the firm stood to receive exorbitant commissions of up to 18 percent from those sales.

The civil complaint, filed Friday, alleges that former middle school math teacher Tamara “Tammie” Steele, owner of Pendleton-based Steele Financial Inc., “took advantage” of current or former teachers and other workers in public education by selling them “extremely risky securities” issued by private company Behavioral Recognition Systems Inc., or BRS.

Steele Financial Inc., 131 N Pendleton Ave., was founded by Steele in 2000 and manages about $60 million for clients.

BRS, a Houston-based software firm now known as Giant Gray Inc., was charged with fraud by the SEC last year.

SEC officials said Steele, 49, received $2.5 million in commissions from BRS in return for recommending and selling the company’s securities from December 2012 to October 2016. Read More