The Securities and Exchange Commission has reached a settlement with a barred financial advisor accused of fraud and violating the commission's Regulation Best Interest.

Between February 2021 and July 2021, Christopher Booth Kennedy misled his customers about the purported success of his trading strategy, including by falsifying account statements to "grossly" overstate the value of one of the customers' accounts, the SEC alleged in a litigation release published on Tuesday.

Between July 2020 and July 2021, Kennedy also recommended "a short-term, high-volume investment strategy" for 19 brokerage accounts held by retail customers without a reasonable basis, thereby violating Reg BI, the SEC further alleged.

Those recommendations led to more than $9 million in customer losses, according to the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.

Kennedy agreed to settle charges of violating anti-fraud provisions and Reg BI by paying disgorgement of $958,134, prejudgment interest in the amount of $218,267, and a civil penalty of $958,134, for a total of $2,134,535, according to the SEC.

Kennedy joined the financial services industry in 2002 and was last registered with Western International Securities from 2019 to September 2021, when the company discharged him over allegations brought by clients that Kennedy engaged in "unauthorized options trading and failure to adhere to discretionary options sales orders," according to BrokerCheck.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority barred Kennedy more than a year ago over allegations that he violated Reg BI.

Kennedy also has 11 customer disputes on his record, beginning in 2008, alleging ignoring a stop-loss order, denying access to client account statements to hide improper trading, trading without authorization, breach of fiduciary duty, negligence and other violations.

Ten of the disputes have been settled for amounts ranging from $36,870.52 to $3.8 million, and one dispute is still pending, according to his record.