The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged missing Florida money manager Arthur Nadel with fraud on Wednesday and accused him of recently transferring more than $1m to secret accounts he held.

In its complaint, the SEC said the six hedge funds Mr. Nadel oversaw, which he valued at more than $300m, actually contain less than $1m. It obtained an emergency court order freezing Mr. Nadel's assets and appointing a receiver.

Mr. Nadel, the 76-year-old head of Sarasota, Fla.-based Scoop Management, was reported missing by his family a week ago. See previous story.

The SEC charged Mr. Nadel and two companies he controls, Scoop Capital LLC and Scoop Management Inc. with defrauding investors at six hedge funds; Scoop Real Estate, Valhalla Investment Partners, Victory IRA Fund, Victory Fund, Viking IRA Fund and Viking Fund.

The SEC said Mr. Nadel provided false information to investors about the funds' returns and overstated the value of the investments by about $300m. The actual value of the funds' holdings on Jan. 14, the day Mr. Nadel disappeared, was about $507,000, the agency said.

According to the complaint Mr. Nadel recently transferred at least $1.25m from two of the funds to bank accounts he controlled.