Wymer Pleads Not Guilty to Charges : Arraignment: The investment adviser is charged with 30 counts of securities fraud, money laundering and other federal crimes.

Newport Beach investment adviser Steven D. Wymer pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court here Monday to 30 counts of securities fraud, money laundering and other charges, and his attorney said Wymer intends to vigorously defend himself against all charges.

Mark S. Roberts of Fullerton, who is representing Wymer, added that despite an extensive federal investigation of Wymer and his two Irvine investment companies, “there are no charges of theft or personal misappropriation of any kind by Steven D. Wymer.”

Roberts protested, however, that Wymer cannot prepare a proper defense from jail. Wymer has been held without bail at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles since his arrest Dec. 17, when a federal magistrate concluded that he posed both an extreme flight risk and “an economic danger to his community.”

The 43-year-old money manager is accused of defrauding dozens of small cities and other government entities in California, Iowa and Colorado of $100 million in taxpayer funds entrusted to him for investment. If convicted on all criminal charges, Wymer could face up to 275 years in prison and $140 million in fines.

Wymer is also the target of a civil fraud suit by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which is expected to try to seek reimbursements for clients.

None of Wymer’s employees or associates have been charged with wrongdoing. But on Monday, an SEC official refused to rule out the possibility that Wymer may have had accomplices.

“The investigation continues, and if there are other culpable parties, we will pursue actions against them,” said Lori A. Richards, SEC assistant regional administrator for enforcement in Los Angeles.

As many as 12 SEC lawyers and investigators have been working full time for a month investigating Wymer’s two Irvine companies, Institutional Treasury Management and Denman & Co., as well as his personal assets, Richards said.

According to property records, Wymer and his wife owned houses in Newport Beach and Florida, four cars--including two Mercedes-Benzes and a BMW--three boats and a jet estimated to be worth $560,000. Wymer sold the jet Dec. 4, shortly before the SEC obtained a court order freezing his assets.

However, neither the SEC nor federal prosecutors have presented any evidence that Wymer looted client funds for personal use. Wymer’s attorneys have previously said he lost the money in risky investments. Although they asserted Wymer’s innocence Monday, they declined any comment on where the money went.

Wymer’s attorneys said Monday that they will request a new bail hearing as soon as possible before U.S. District Judge Richard A. Gadbois Jr., who was assigned Monday to preside in both the criminal and civil cases.

“Although Mr. Wymer has no criminal record, though he has significant community ties, though he has voluntarily surrendered his passport and has consented to a (freeze on) all his personal and business assets, he is being held without bail and is being denied access to his personal and business records,” Roberts said in a statement read to reporters after Wymer was arraigned Monday. “It is in this impossible context that he is expected to prepare his defense,” Roberts said.

Once Wymer is freed and given access to his records, Roberts said, “the story, as painted by the government, will unfold in a completely different light.”