A Santa Barbara County investment advisor has pleaded guilty to stealing approximately $2.25 million from elderly clients of her investment advisory business, some of whom were receiving end-of-life care.
Julie Anne Darrah, 52, of Santa Maria, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. She remains free on a $50,000 bond.
Darrah ran a Santa Maria-based investment advisory business called Vivid Financial Management Inc.
At all relevant times, she was an investment advisor registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, and from 2015 to 2021, she was the president, chief compliance officer, and a one-third shareholder of VFM.
During the scheme, Darrah stole approximately $2.25 million from her firm’s clients. She did so by obtaining control of her victims’ assets, and then – without the victims’ knowledge or consent – she liquidated their security holdings and transferred the proceeds to accounts she controlled.
As part of this, she convinced victims to sign documents making her the trustee of their trusts or a signatory on their bank accounts or giving her power of attorney over their brokerage accounts and allowing her – as their investment advisor – to transfer funds from their accounts to other bank accounts, including to her own accounts.
Darrah took advantage of the trust victims placed in her – often convincing them she would take care of them in their older years like a daughter, and she used this trust to convince them to sign the documents that she then used to steal money from them.
In this way, Darrah stole money from victims from approximately November 2016 to July 2023. She used stolen funds to buy properties for herself, pay other personal expenses, buy luxury vehicles, and operate other business ventures.
Some victims were left in desperate circumstances, without the money to pay for end-of-life care, when the fraud was discovered.
Darrah also convinced a company identified in the plea agreement as “Business Victim 1,” a Minnesota-based investment advisor firm, to acquire VFM based on false and misleading statements and the concealment of material facts, including not telling that firm about her theft of individual client funds.
After the fraud was discovered, Business Victim 1 incurred approximately $5.4 million in losses.
“The defendant took advantage of her clients’ trust,” said Acting United States Attorney Joseph McNally. “Many of them were elderly, and she stole from them using their funds as her own. Our seniors should never have to question whether their money is safe. She will now be held accountable for her actions.”
United States District Judge Otis D. Wright II scheduled a May 19 sentencing hearing, at which time Darrah will face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
In October 2023, the SEC filed a civil complaint against Darrah in connection with this scheme. In December 2024, United States District Judge Dale S. Fischer found Darrah liable to pay $2,416,511, including interest.
