Gallagher promised “guaranteed, risk-free returns ranging from 5 to 8 percent per year.” Contrary to those promises, he did not use investor funds to purchase securities. Instead, authorities said, he used it to pay other clients and to cover payroll, radio costs and other personal expenses.

When investigators searched Gallagher’s offices at the time of his arrest, they discovered he had no computer or accounting system. The court-appointed receiver, Cortney C. Thomas, described the parts of the building as being in disarray, filing photographs showing offices strewn with heaps of boxes, documents and personal belongings.

“Over a decade of business records and unopened mail are scattered and stacked randomly throughout the office,” he wrote in a report filed in April 2019.

His bank accounts contained under $1 million — a fraction of the amount he took in from investors. He “was not truthful” regarding some of his assets, Thomas wrote, and concealed the existence of an office in Hurst, Tex., until it was discovered by authorities.