The SEC is seeking an emergency court order to freeze his assets after Starr allegedly stole client money for his personal use, including the purchase last month of a $7.5 million dollar apartment.

Also charged in the case is Andrew Stein, former Manhattan Borough President and mayoral candidate who is a well known figure in Manhattan social circles.

Stein was charged with making false statements to the Internal Revenue Service and for using a company he created through Starr to cover huge “personal expenses,” including hundreds of thousands of dollars in credit card bills.

Starr’s clients have reportedly included film director Martin Scorcese, actors Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes and Uma Thurmond and Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, the 99-year-old of widow of philanthropist Paul Mellon.

Starr, who managed around $700 million, “used his access to famous and powerful clients to burnish an image of trustworthiness, leading his clients to entrust him with management and control of their financial affairs,” according to charges filed in Manhattan by a special criminal agent from the Internal Revenue Service.

The SEC alleged that Starr and two entities he controls — Starr Investment Advisors and Starr & Company — violated securities laws and made unauthorized transfers of money in client accounts that ultimately wound up in Starr’s personal accounts.

Certain client assets were held in a safe in Starr & Company’s offices despite the fact that Starr and his firms were not qualified custodians, the SEC alleged.

What’s more, Starr Investment Advisors did not “comply with asset custody rules that require firms to engage an independent public accountant to perform yearly surprise examinations of client assets in the firm’s custody,” according to a statement released by the SEC.

“Starr breached his fiduciary duty as an investment advisor in the most egregious manner possible — he stole the funds his clients entrusted to him,” George Canellos, director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office said in a statement. “Starr betrayed the trust of some clients who have looked to him for years for investment advice and financial guidance.”

Starr is also accused of stealing client funds in what prosecutors called a Ponzi scheme, using money from some investors to repay others.

“When Starr’s clients made demands for payments that Starr could not meet, he transferred funds from one client to another client,” an IRS agent, said in the complaint.

Starr’s services included a family office offering, paying taxes and bills for about 200 clients.