March 5, 2012 |  4:15 pm

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/03/consultant-charged-with-murder-financial-crimes.html

An Orange County financial consultant was charged Monday with murder and a host of financial crimes surrounding the 2008 stabbing death of a Santa Monica artist, prosecutors said.

Daniel Gilbert Becerril II, 35, faces accusations of money-laundering and grand theft in addition to the murder of Alexander Merman, found stabbed to death in his Montana Avenue condo in March 2009. Prosecutors filed a total of 31 felony counts against Becerril, of Huntington Beach, who ran AP Financial Group.

Prosecutors alleged that Becerril ran a complex money-laundering scheme that defrauded Merman and another victim out of $1.4 million. The scheme allegedly began when Merman, a Russian-born artist who was also an elementary school teacher, gave Beverril a $250,000 loan.

Authorities did not specify how the financial crimes were linked with Merman’s slaying.

In a related case, Becerril’s wife Sandra, sister Rebekah and a third man, Abram Guajardo, were charged with grand theft, money-laundering and forgery. The three additional defendants, along with Becerril, defrauded a woman out of her Covina home, prosecutors said.

Police said at the time of Becerril’s arrest last week that his firm may have bilked dozens of victims out of millions of dollars.