A FINRA-suspended broker known as “K Money” pleaded guilty this week to investment advisor fraud. Kenneth Thom of Westfield, N.J., was arrested in August and charged with defrauding social media followers of more than $800,000. He’ll be sentenced on June 25 and could face up to five years in prison, according to the Justice Department.

“Kenneth Thom pretended online to be a successful investor and advisor when in fact he was a suspended broker and grifter,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, in a statement. “He recruited social media followers, convinced them to invest with him, and then stole their money. Our office will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect investors from fraud, no matter where they seek their investment advice.”

Thom first registered in 2006, with brief stints at Joseph Stevens & Company, National Securities Corporation and Next Financial Group. In 2011, FINRA suspended him for failing to pay an arbitration penalty.

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When Thom was suspended, he reinvented himself as a successful trader on Facebook, calling himself “K$” or “K Money,” and touting his (false) bona fides as a “Wall Street veteran,” a “luminary,” and a “beacon of knowledge,” the DOJ claimed.

According to the indictment, Thom offered subscriptions for trading lessons and daily trade suggestions, managing a Facebook group called the “K$ Trading Group.” Starting in 2023, he began managing client funds, posting in the group about a subscription with a “10K buy-in” and quickly began accepting client deposits.

But from January through August 2024, Thom received about $786,234 from 67 clients, sending about $350,000 to brokerage accounts, which was less than half the total sum he had promised to trade. Of the $46,234 he didn’t trade, he returned about $51,478 to nine clients, with his bank returning a further $10,000.

Thom used the remaining funds for dining at restaurants, travel, luxury goods, cash withdrawals and transfers to other accounts (the expenses included $6,026 for Airbnb and $5,883 for an all-business-class airline flight between New Jersey and Paris). According to the indictment, Thom spent $6,982 on a single purchase at the Haneda Airport in Tokyo.

Of the money he invested, Thom lost more than 73% between March 2024 and 2025. He allegedly falsified performance updates for clients showing gains.

In January 2025, he changed the Facebook group name to “AYABABTU” (an acronym for the meme “All Your Base Are Belong to Us,” which comes from a bad translation of a Japanese video game). Hundreds of members were removed from the group. Thom allegedly told some investors that someone else had taken over his Facebook account, and he then stopped responding to clients entirely.

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Thom’s attorney did not respond to a request for comment prior to publication.