Reuters - Massachusetts’ top securities regulator on Monday charged a hedge fund manager, who promised to earn as much as 20 percent for his clients, with improperly soliciting investors.

William Galvin, the state’s secretary of the commonwealth, said Michael Regan did not check whether investors in his River Stream fund were wealthy enough to legally invest with him.

Galvin’s office also found documents that suggest most of the money clients entrusted to Regan may be lost.

Decades-old rules designed to protect less affluent investors from putting their savings into loosely regulated hedge funds require fund managers to make sure that all of their investors meet a minimum net-worth requirement.

Regan could not be reached for comment.

Investigators found River Stream client data thrown into a dumpster near an empty office where Regan said he worked.

The money manager wooed friends and social contacts with false Ivy League credentials and promises of healthy returns between 10 percent and 20 percent a year. He claimed to have an MBA in Finance from Columbia University which he did not earn, Galvin’s office said.

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