Financial advisor charged with possessing and distributing child pornography

A 52-year-old financial advisor affiliated with LPL Financial and Wealth Enhancement Group viewed and sent child pornography through the Kik Messenger app, authorities say.

Nicholas Spagnoletti was arrested Aug. 12 after investigators acting on a tip from the app and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children found “images and videos depicting the sexual exploitation and/or abuse of a minor” on his phone, according to court documents in Morris County, New Jersey. He faces charges of endangering the welfare of children through the distribution and posession of child pornography.

Wealth Enhancement, a private equity-backed hybrid RIA with LPL that added the 28-year industry veteran last month as part of its acquisition of Parsippany-based Macro Consulting Group, has fired Spagnoletti. After the report from Kik that a user uploaded five files with child pornography, investigators traced the IP address to Spagnoletti’s cell phone, his Madison home and his office, the warrant states. They found the files on his iPhone, the document shows.

“A search of this device revealed the Kik account in question present on the device with messages being sent to and from this account,” the warrant says. “A post-Miranda interview of the defendant revealed that he was the sole user of the said Kik account, and that he had personally viewed child sexual exploitation materials on Kik in the past. Defendant acknowledged that these materials were ‘wrong.’”

Spagnoletti didn’t respond to an email sent to his address at Macro Consulting, which didn’t respond to requests for comment or contact information for any lawyer who could respond to the allegations on his behalf. He was released after his arraignment on Aug. 13 without entering a plea, according to the clerk’s office of the Morristown Superior Courthouse.

Representatives for LPL didn’t respond to a request for comment.

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After Morris County Prosecutor Robert Carroll, Chief of Detectives Christoph Kimker, and Acting Chief John Miscia of the Madison Borough Police Department announced the arrest and wealth management news outlet Citywire reported it, representatives for Wealth Enhancement said Spagnoletti no longer works for the firm.

“We take this matter very seriously and are fully cooperating with law enforcement authorities,” spokesman Chris Clemens said in an emailed statement. “We expect our professionals to hold themselves to the highest possible ethical and legal standards, and as such, we have terminated this advisor. Until more information from the legal process is established, it would be inappropriate for us to provide further public comment.”

Spagnoletti spent the previous evening in the Morris County Correctional Facility after his arrest, according to the authorities. Between April 15 and Aug. 12, he used “his personal cell phone to upload, possess and distribute images of child pornography,” according to their statement about the case. They asked anyone who may have information about the case to contact Detective Thomas Laird of the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office at 973-285-6245.

Macro Consulting managed more than $900 million in client assets at the time Wealth Enhancement agreed to purchase the firm in June. Spagnoletti affiliated with LPL on July 1 and Wealth Enhancement on the following day, according to FINRA BrokerCheck. The practice had been affiliated with LPL until founder Mark Cortazzo decided in 2018 to switch to Mutual Securities as the firm’s broker-dealer. Spagnoletti had prior tenures with SII Investments, Comprehensive Asset Management and Servicing, Capital Analysts, 1717 Capital Management and Prudential, BrokerCheck shows.

The two charges against Spagnoletti are endangering the welfare of children for the distribution of child pornography in the second degree and endangering the welfare of children for the possession of child pornography in the third degree. He’s scheduled to appear in court again on Sept. 14 for a pre-indictment conference.