Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jeffrey Stebbins and Corbin Jones, Civil Action No. CV 13-755-PHX-SRB
SEC Charges Two Arizona-Based Brokers with Defrauding Investors in Tankless Water Heater Venture
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, charging two former brokers in Arizona with stealing investments in a project to develop tankless water heaters.
Henry Everette Walker Jr. – Registered Principal, Clanton, Alabama:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) is a self-regulatory authority assigned the responsibility, by the Securities and Exchange Commission, to license, regulate and discipline securities broker/dealers and their employees, including account executives. In the event that FINRA elects to institute and enforcement action, firms and licensed individuals have the responsibility to reflect such action of their U-4 and/or U-5 filings, which can be viewed on the FINRA website under the broker-check section of the site or by viewing the monthly disciplinary information also provided on the FINRA site.
The monthly disciplinary information is referenced on the site generally in alphabetical order. This post relates to the following company or individuals. If the reader would like to review the entire FINRA release or the broker-check information concerning this matter, you can follow these highlighted links:
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Sean David Morton, Vajra Productions, LLC, 27 Investments, LLC, and Magic Eight Ball Distributing, Inc., defendants, and Melissa Morton and Prophecy Research Institute, relief defendants, Civil Action No. 10-CV-1720 (SDNY) (KBF)
District Court Grants Securities and Exchange Commission’s Motions for Default Judgment against a Nationally Known Psychic and his Corporate Entities in Multi-Million Dollar Offering Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) announced recently that on February 11, 2013 the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered default judgments against Sean David Morton (Morton), a nationally-recognized psychic who bills himself as “America’s Prophet,” his wife, relief defendant Melissa Morton, and corporate shell entities co-owned by the Mortons. In addition to ordering permanent injunctions from violating antifraud and registration statutes and rule, each defendant was ordered to disgorge, jointly and severally, $5,181,135.82, along with prejudgment interest of $1,171,110.54, and pay a penalty of $5,181,135.82 for a total of $11,533,382.18. Relief defendants Melissa Morton and the Prophecy Research Institute, the Mortons’ nonprofit religious organization, were ordered to disgorge $468,281 plus prejudgment interest of $105,847.23, for a total of $574,128.23.
SEC Charges Real Estate Executives in Florida-Based $300 Million Investment Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged five former real estate executives who defrauded investors into believing they were funding the development of five-star destination resorts in Florida and Las Vegas when they were actually buying into a Ponzi scheme.
The SEC alleges that Cay Clubs Resorts and Marinas raised more than $300 million from nearly 1,400 investors nationwide through a network of hundreds of sales agents, marketing seminars, and podcasts that touted the profitability of purchasing units at Cay Clubs resort locations. Investors were promised immediate income from a guaranteed 15 percent return and a future income stream through a rental program that Cay Clubs managed. But instead of using investor funds to develop resort properties and units, the Cay Clubs executives used new investor deposits to pay leaseback returns to earlier investors. Meanwhile they paid themselves exorbitant salaries and commissions totaling more than $30 million, and investor funds also were misused to buy airplanes and boats. While still advertising itself as a profitable venture, Cay Clubs eventually abandoned its operations. Many investors’ properties went into foreclosure.
John Brady Guyette – Registered Principal, Greeley, Colorado:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) is a self-regulatory authority assigned the responsibility, by the Securities and Exchange Commission, to license, regulate and discipline securities broker/dealers and their employees, including account executives. In the event that FINRA elects to institute and enforcement action, firms and licensed individuals have the responsibility to reflect such action of their U-4 and/or U-5 filings, which can be viewed on the FINRA website under the broker-check section of the site or by viewing the monthly disciplinary information also provided on the FINRA site.
The monthly disciplinary information is referenced on the site generally in alphabetical order. This post relates to the following company or individuals. If the reader would like to review the entire FINRA release or the broker-check information concerning this matter, you can follow these highlighted links:
The Commission recently announced that on December 17, 2012, the United States District Court for the Central District of California granted the Commission’s motion for summary judgment against all defendants and relief defendants in a civil action arising from two “prime bank” or “high yield” investment schemes that defrauded investors out of more than $11 million. In addition to permanently enjoining Francis E. Wilde, Steven E. Woods, Mark A. Gelazela, Bruce H. Haglund, and entities they control, from violations of the antifraud and other securities law provisions, the judgment also orders the defendants to pay disgorgement and civil penalties and bars Wilde and Haglund from acting as an officer or director of a public company. In addition, a separate judgment issued by the court orders relief defendants IBalance LLC, Maureen Wilde, and Shillelagh Capital Corporation to pay disgorgement of illegally obtained profits.
The Commission’s complaint, filed on February 24, 2011, alleged that Wilde, through his company Matrix Holdings LLC, orchestrated two fraudulent investment schemes. The first scheme began in April 2008 when Wilde obtained a U.S. Treasury bond with a market value of nearly $5 million from an investor by making false and misleading promises of outsized returns from what he claimed was a “private placement program.” Wilde eventually exhausted all of the funds obtained with the investor’s bond and never produced a return for the investor.
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Premco Western, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 2:12-cv-01120-BSJ (USDC Utah, Filed December 10, 2012)
SEC CHARGES OIL AND GAS COMPANY AND PRINCIPAL WITH OFFERING FRAUD
Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a settled civil injunctive action against Premco Western, Inc. (Premco), and its principal, Rodney Ratheal (Ratheal). Premco is an oil and gas company incorporated in Texas that operates by drilling land leased from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Premco has been solely owned and operated by Ratheal since he acquired it in June 2001.
Russell Kent Child – Spring, Texas:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) is a self-regulatory authority assigned the responsibility, by the Securities and Exchange Commission, to license, regulate and discipline securities broker/dealers and their employees, including account executives. In the event that FINRA elects to institute and enforcement action, firms and licensed individuals have the responsibility to reflect such action of their U-4 and/or U-5 filings, which can be viewed on the FINRA website under the broker-check section of the site or by viewing the monthly disciplinary information also provided on the FINRA site.
The monthly disciplinary information is referenced on the site generally in alphabetical order. This post relates to the following company or individual. If the reader would like to review the entire FINRA release or the broker-check information, you can follow these highlighted links:
Jimmy Wayne Freeman Jr. – Corpus Christi, Texas:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) is a self-regulatory authority assigned the responsibility, by the Securities and Exchange Commission, to license, regulate and discipline securities broker/dealers and their employees, including account executives. In the event that FINRA elects to institute and enforcement action, firms and licensed individuals have the responsibility to reflect such action of their U-4 and/or U-5 filings, which can be viewed on the FINRA website under the broker-check section of the site or by viewing the monthly disciplinary information also provided on the FINRA site.
The monthly disciplinary information is referenced on the site generally in alphabetical order. This post relates to the following company or individual. If the reader would like to review the entire FINRA release or the broker-check information, you can follow these highlighted links:
Brian Ray Eastridge – Sedgwick, Kansas:
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (FINRA) is a self-regulatory authority assigned the responsibility, by the Securities and Exchange Commission, to license, regulate and discipline securities broker/dealers and their employees, including account executives. In the event that FINRA elects to institute and enforcement action, firms and licensed individuals have the responsibility to reflect such action of their U-4 and/or U-5 filings, which can be viewed on the FINRA website under the broker-check section of the site or by viewing the monthly disciplinary information also provided on the FINRA site.
The monthly disciplinary information is referenced on the site generally in alphabetical order. This post relates to the following company or individual. If the reader would like to review the entire FINRA release or the broker-check information, you can follow these highlighted links:
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