Virginia man charged in scheme to cheat broker-dealers

Scott Matasar, a partner in Calfee, Halter & Griswold’s litigation department who represented McDonald Investments in its arbitration to retrieve the money, said he turned over his findings to the government in November 2006 after realizing that Mr. Daly had a pattern of bilking brokers of their funds.

“He’s a con artist,” Mr. Matasar said. “He’s done the exact same thing to other firms. This guy is a bad apple, and he shook down a lot of financial institutions.”

Mr. Matasar said he was “delighted” to learn that charges were filed. He said Mr. Daly had had a good relationship with the firm for several years, having positioned himself as an investment advisor to high net-worth individuals who wanted to remain anonymous, before the problem with Decker Outdoor Corp., the maker of Ugg boots.

No contact information for Mr. Daly in Orange, Va. — his home, according to the government charges — could be found.