Judge Freezes Company’s Accounts : Courts: The SEC alleges that a Lake Forest investment counselor sold nonexistent securities.

A federal judge has granted a request to freeze the accounts of a Lake Forest investment counselor who is alleged to have set up a scam that targeted elderly prospects through a nursing home newsletter.

U.S. District Judge Robert M. Takasugi granted a request by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission late last week prohibiting destruction of documents and transfer of assets belonging to Randall C. Hutchens or his company, Laguna Equities Inc.

The SEC alleged in a civil complaint earlier this month that Hutchens since January has offered and sold between $288,500 and $900,000 worth of nonexistent securities called “secured collateralized notes.”

The company advertised in a newsletter for the two Sunset Haven nonprofit, church-affiliated nursing homes that a $10,000 investment would bring a 9.3% fixed return in six months, the SEC said. Of that, 2% would be donated to Sunset Haven, which has nursing homes in Upland and the Cherry Valley area of Riverside County.

The SEC said the notes were not backed by the “A” rated companies that Laguna Equities listed. Instead, the agency said, investors’ funds were being misappropriated for Hutchens’ and his company’s own use.

Laguna Equities’ telephone was answered Monday by a recording stating that Hutchens and his staff are on vacation this week and that the office is closed.

Sandra Harris, branch chief officer of the SEC’s enforcement section in Los Angeles, said she thinks “there is a very good chance” that investors may be able to recover some of their funds. The money is in the frozen accounts, she said, the size of which is still being determined.