The two stockbrokers appeared to be running a legitimate business: They were licensed employees at a Brooklyn branch of the national brokerage firm J.P. Turner and Co., working inside a red-brick building in Clinton Hill. They cold-called clients, but many had invested with J.P. Turner before. One managed the branch office, and the other was an on-site supervisor.

Prosecutors yesterday charged the stockbrokers with stealing about $500,000 from clients who invested in a nonexistent company they invented. Damascus Lee and Ian Bynoe, both 34, were charged yesterday with multiple felonies, including grand larceny, scheme to defraud, and money laundering. If convicted, they could face up to 15 years in prison.

Prosecutors said Messrs. Bynoe and Lee incorporated a fraudulent real estate development company, Vanguard Development and Management, in 2002. Victims were lured to the Wyoming-based company by brokers who worked for the defendants, who told them Vanguard had tremendous growth potential and said it was endorsed by J.P. Turner. Prosecutors did not link the brokerage firm to the scheme.

Prosecutors allege Vanguard did no actual business, while Messrs. Bynoe and Lee pocketed — and spent — their clients’ money. “It was set up solely as a vehicle to allow Bynoe and Lee to steal money,” the Brooklyn district attorney, Charles Hynes, said. He said prosecutors were referred the case by NASD, a private-sector regulator of the securities industry. At least six victims have been identified, but prosecutors believe there are more, he said.

At least one of the victims, a woman from Leeds, England, said she and her late husband lost $25,000 in the scam after “investing” with Mr. Lee in December 2002. “Why wouldn’t we trust this investment would be okay?” Anne Woodhouse, 56, said. Ultimately, she said, they contacted authorities when they were denied repeated requests to see documentation of their investment.