A 32-year-old investor pleaded guilty last week to defrauding at least 10 clients of more than $7 million.

Prosecutors recommended a sentence of 78 months in prison for Richard A. Finger, a Bellevue resident, and owner of Black Diamond Capital Management in Kirkland. He will be sentenced in U.S. District court Feb. 17, 2012, where the amount of restitution to the victims will be decided.

Court documents detail multiple instances in which clients invested with Finger, and he told them investments were growing, when in reality they were falling rapidly.

One victim investor placed nearly $700,000 with Finger for investments. When he moved from the Seattle brokerage to his own firm, he provided the client with phony statements showing his account was worth more than $1.2 million  account was worth less than $5,500.

The plea agreement further details how a second client lost much of the $1 million invested with Finger.

in early June 2011, and by the end of the month the account had lost $160,000 due to trades, and was charged an additional $400,000 in commissions. By mid July 2011, the account was worth less than $225,000.

This second client and at least nine others were provided statements by email. The emailed statements were false, but were made to appear legitimate by following the format of the clearing firm Finger used to place the trades. Finger transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars from the brokerage accounts to his own personal checking account as large commissions to pay for his own credit card bills, food and entertainment as well as business expenses such as payroll, fees and taxes.