A New York brokerage ripped off clients for about three years through an elaborate money-transfer scheme that boosted its profits — and cut into the clients’ savings, the Securities and Exchange Commission claimed in an $8 million settlement on Monday.

The brokerage, deVere USA, targeted US citizens who had pensions in the UK, and pushed them to make unnecessary transfers — each one carrying an unusually high 7 percent fee, the SEC claimed.

The broker’s CEO, Benjamin Alderson, and former manager, Bradley Hamilton, are also accused of misleading clients, court papers reveal.

“Investment advisers have an obligation to disclose direct and indirect financial incentives,” Marc P. Berger, the SEC’s New York regional office director, said in a statement. “deVere USA brushed aside this duty while advising retail investors about their retirement assets, and today’s settlement will result in a Fair Fund distribution to deVere USA’s retail clients who were deprived of important information.”

The company is “pleased” to have settled the matter, George Prior, a deVere spokesman, said in a statement.