Securities Industry Commentator by Bill Singer Esq

Dismissed FINRA Arbitration Against JP Morgan Involves Horrific Backstory (BrokeAndBroker.com Blog)

Co-Founder Of Investment Fund Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy, Securities Fraud, Wire Fraud, And Investment Adviser Fraud Charges / Jason Rhodes Pleads Guilty to Participating in Multimillion-Dollar Fraud Scheme (DOJ Release)

Founder And President Of Online Gaming Company Pleads Guilty To Securities And Wire Fraud (DOJ Release)

Two Defendants Posing as Booking Agents for Famous Entertainers Arrested for Fraudulent Scheme / Allegedly Claimed They Could Book Justin Timberlake and Bruno Mars To Perform at a Concert Benefitting the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation (DOJ Release)

Former Long Island Investment Advisor Sentenced to 170 Months in Prison for Multi-Million Dollar Securities Fraud and Ponzi Scheme / Defendant Defrauded Dozens of Elderly Investors of Over $13 Million (DOJ Release)

Rockland County Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Investors (DOJ Release)

FINRA Releases 2020 Risk Monitoring and Examination Priorities Letter (FINRA Release)

FINRA  Fines and Suspends Former Morgan Stanley Rep Over Private Securities Transactions. In the Matter of James R Willing, Respondent (FINRA AWC 2018057629501)

Beginning in at least 2013 and through in or about December 2016, RHODES, together with his co-conspirators, solicited investments in Sentinel by falsely representing to investors that their funds would be used for legitimate, specified investment purposes, namely purchasing securities.  In fact, RHODES failed to invest the investor monies as promised, but rather diverted investor funds to his own personal use and the personal use of his co-conspirators and, in a Ponzi-like manner, to make repayments to other investors who were demanding their money.  Among other things, RHODES diverted investor funds to a trucking business operated by RHODES and his wife; to pay more than $1 million to settle an unrelated civil lawsuit filed against RHODES and one of his co-conspirators; and on other personal expenses including a resort stay in Dubai and a luxury time-share vacation club.  Through this scheme, RHODES and his co-conspirators defrauded approximately 25 investors out of a total of approximately $19.6 million.

Among other fraudulent acts, RHODES and a co-conspirator falsified an account statement for an investor ("Investor-1") to conceal the fact that RHODES and his co-conspirators had misappropriated most of the $4.2 million Investor-1 had invested in Sentinel.  After Investor-1 discovered the fraudulent nature of the account statement, RHODES, working with others, obtained funds from yet another investor ("Investor-2") in order to make payments to Investor-1.  RHODES and his co-conspirators then, on multiple occasions, created fraudulent reports for Investor-2, falsely reflecting that Investor-2's funds were invested with portfolio managers in Sentinel's brokerage accounts and were earning returns.  In truth and in fact, and as RHODES well knew, Investor-2's funds had been almost entirely misappropriated upon their receipt to repay Investor-1, and were not being managed by portfolio managers on Sentinel's platform. 

Beginning in at least 2013 and continuing through in or about 2017, ALEXANDER engaged in a scheme to defraud investors in the Company.  Specifically, ALEXANDER solicited and maintained investments in the Company through numerous false representations, including concerning his own professional background, the Company's financial condition, expected returns on investment, and through false assurances to investors that their investments would be used solely for the Company's business purposes.  

Also in furtherance of his scheme and contrary to representations made to investors, ALEXANDER used more than approximately $1.3 million of the funds he obtained from investors on his own personal expenses instead of for the Company's business purposes.  For example, ALEXANDER used investor funds to make payments toward his personal credit cards, to fund his gambling excursions to multiple casinos, to make rental payments for his personal residence, and to make car payments for a luxury car purchased for one of ALEXANDER's family members.

[I]n September 2019, Jean and Scott were contacted by an investor who was organizing a concert at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas, to benefit the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation.  The defendants falsely represented that they could book top-tier musical acts to perform at the concert, and provided the investor with a contract for a total fee of $500,000 that purported to commit Timberlake to perform.  One of the investors then wired a $100,000 deposit to the defendants.  Subsequently, when Timberlake's social media account failed to mention or promote the event, the investor requested confirmation that Timberlake was booked.  In response, the investor received a telephone call from an unidentified individual who falsely claimed to be Timberlake's manager.  The unidentified individual stated that Timberlake would perform at the concert, but that the fee would have to be raised to between $800,000 and $1 million.  In November 2019, the defendants sent the investor an agreement stating that Mars would perform at the concert as an alternative to Timberlake for a fee of $600,000.  The investor agreed that Mars could be the headliner, but did not send an additional deposit to the defendants. 

Within a month of receiving the original $100,000 deposit, approximately half of the money was used by the defendants for personal expenses or withdrawn as cash.

From January 2000 to March 2018, Pagartanis, then an affiliate of a registered broker-dealer, solicited victims, almost all of whom were elderly women, to invest in two publicly traded companies, promising an eight percent return.  At Pagartanis's direction, the victims wrote checks payable to an entity he secretly controlled.  Pagartanis then laundered the victims' investments through a series of bank accounts, and used the money to pay personal expenses, purchase luxury items, fund failed business ventures including his wife's pet store and make the guaranteed "interest" or "dividend" payments to other victims.  The defendant's victims invested over $13 million and sustained losses of over $9 million.  Many lost substantial amounts of their life savings, including funds set aside to help ill family members, pay college expenses and maintain their homes.

From at least in or about September 2014 through in or about April 2017, JORGE PADILLA orchestrated a scheme to solicit investments in a sham family investment office, Dunatos Capital.  PADILLA, a financial professional registered with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ("FINRA"), worked throughout the period at issue for large financial institutions.  Nevertheless, PADILLA, targeting Argentina-based victim-investors who had been clients of one such institution, claimed he had gone to work for Dunatos Capital, purportedly a family office managing tens of millions of dollars in investments.  In order to solicit investments in this sham firm, PADILLA made false representations, including claiming, for example, that Dunatos had tens of millions of dollars under management, was regulated by U.S. financial regulators, and operated out of non-existent Manhattan-based offices.  After victims transferred funds pursuant to PADILLA's directions, PADILLA prepared and sent fraudulent statements about how the funds were invested.  PADILLA solicited more than $900,000 in purported investments in the sham firm.

• Securities Industry Commentator
• Bill Singer