Senior Investors

Securities Fraud: Ex-Ameriprise Adviser to Pay $3M for Ponzi Scam, Four Insurance Agents Allegedly Defrauded Senior Investors, and Trading in Nine Penny Stocks is Suspended

Published on: October 8, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Former Ameriprise Adviser Ordered to Jail, Must Pay $3M Restitution

Oscar Donald Overbey Jr., an ex-Ameriprise Financial Services (AMP) financial adviser, must pay back the $3 million he allegedly stole from investors while operating a Ponzi scam. The 47-year-old has been sentenced to three and a half years behind bars.

Court documents say that from 1996 into 2007, Overbey stole about $4 million of client funds that he was supposed to invest. Instead, the money was used to pay earlier investors, cover his personal expenses, and pay off his gambling debts.

FINRA Bars Former Raymond James Advisor for Elder Financial Fraud, Charges SWS Over Variable Annuity Supervision

Published on: October 6, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has barred Jo Ellen Fischer, an Raymond James independent financial advisor, for purportedly stealing nearly $1 million from a 95-year-old client. At the time, Fisher worked for Peoples Bancorp.

According to the self-regulatory organization, from July to December 2013, the Raymond James advisor converted $924,750 from the elderly customer’s trust without permission. She did this by moving funds and securities into a brokerage account under her daughter’s name. Fisher then liquidated securities and used the money to cover her personal spending, including two Rolexes, motor vehicles, a 2-carat diamond ring, and other expenses.

FINRA says that Fisher claimed that the elderly client was her daughter’s godfather and he wanted her to have the money when she was older. The SRO, however, contends that the Raymond James advisor falsified documents regarding this matter. She has agreed to the bar without denying or admitting to the findings alleging elder financial fraud.

Former LPL Financial Broker Must Pay Almost $2 Million For Bilking Clients, Including Elderly Investors

Published on: August 29, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Blake B. Richards, an ex-LPL Financial (LPLA) broker, must pay close to $2 million in penalties and disgorgement over allegations that he defrauded clients of close to $1.7 million. According to the case, submitted in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Georgia, Richards told at least seven clients to write checks to entities under his control. The clients thought that the money would be invested in variable annuities, fixed-income investments, or equities. Instead, contends the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the funds were used to pay for his personal spending.

According to the SEC, most of the investors’ money came from life insurance proceeds or retirement savings. Two of the investors involved were widowed and at least two others were elderly customers.

Per the regulator’s complaint, Richards won one investor’s trust by delivering pain meds to her husband during a snowstorm. The spouse was suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer at the time.

SEC Gets Nearly $70M Judgment Against Richmond, VA Firms, CEO Find Liable for Securities Fraud

Published on: August 5, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

AIC Inc., Community Bankers Securities LLC, and CEO Nicholas D. Skaltsounis must pay a nearly $70 million judgment for securities fraud, in the wake of an earlier trial that found them liable. The Securities and Exchange Commission had accused them of conducting an offering fraud while selling millions of dollars in AIC promissory notes and stocks to investors in different states, including unsophisticated investors and elderly customers.

The regulator accused them of omissions and misrepresentations of material information about the investments, their risks, the return rates, and how the money would be used by AIC, which is a financial services holding company, and Community Bankers Securities, its subsidiary brokerage firm. The SEC argued that the companies were not profitable and new investors’ money was used in Ponzi scam fashion to repay returns and principal to earlier investors.

Last year, a jury ruled in the SEC’s favor against AIC, Community Bankers Securities and Skaltsounis. Now, AIC must disgorge over $6.6 million, over $969,00 in prejudgment interest, and a $27.95 million penalty. Community Bankers Securities disgorgement is $2.8 million, over $400,000 in prejudgment interest, and a $27.95 million penalty. Skaltsounis is to pay over $2.5 million dollars in total.

SEC Charges Ex-UBS Broker in $730K Elder Financial Fraud Ponzi Scam

Published on: August 4, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against ex-UBS Wealth Management Americas (UBS) broker Donna Tucker for a Ponzi fraud that allegedly bilked elderly investors of over $730,000. Tucker is accused of misappropriating the money from UBS customers over a five-year period while she worked at the financial firm.

According to the SEC, Tucker took part in unauthorized trading, made misrepresentations to customers about the status of their funds, and forged documents and checks. She allegedly gained customers’ trust by becoming friends with them.

For example, she helped one blind couple take care of their medical needs and pay their monthly bills. The latter action gave her access their checkbook. She used this authorization to forge checks written to cash that she then gave to herself.

Boston Investment Firm Accused of $5 Million Real Estate Investment Fraud Targeting Senior Investors

Published on: June 19, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The state of Massachusetts has filed a complaint against Cabot Investment Properties and its principals Timothy J. Kroll and Carlton P. Cabot. Secretary of the Commonwealth William F. Galvin is charging the firm with defrauding mostly elderly investors through fraudulent real estate investment sales.

The administrative complaints contends that Massachusetts residents wanting retirement income invested over $5 million in eight tenancy-in-common investments and misappropriated more than $9 million of the investment proceeds. Cabot Investment Properties had bought 18 business centers, malls, and other real estate properties in the US and structured them as securities.

Galvin claims that the respondents committed fraud when offering and selling the securities and made omissions and misrepresentations about their backgrounds and the consequences involved in securitizing the underlying TIC mortgages into commercial mortgage-backed securities. He contends that they misled investors by providing disclosures that downplayed how much liability was involved.

More Older Investors Are Getting Rid of Advisers and Managing Their Own Funds Online

Published on: May 31, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to InvestmentNews, nearly half of investors in their fifties are now self-directed when it comes to their investments. This means that their main provider for investment advice is either a discount brokerage or a robo-adviser. 40% of investors in the 60 and over age group also are calling themselves self-directed.

The reasons for why older investors are gravitating toward the Internet to manage their own investments vary. For some, it can be a cost saver, compared to paying human advisers their numerous fees. There is also now a greater mistrust of financial representatives in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis. Also, getting everything handled online and without having to go out and meet with an actual adviser for advice or updates is proving very convenient for some.

InvestmentNews offers up as one example a 76-year-old investor, Lois Mayerson. She and her now 81-year-old husband fired their traditional advisers two decades ago. She said they started managing their own money because their financial advisers were losing the funds faster than the couple could deposit the cash into their accounts. Another investor, 58-year-old Joseph Giuliano, works with Betterment, an online financial adviser. Giuliano says that he and his wife have about $500,000 in a Betterment account. He believes that the only reason to have an adviser is when making bigger picture plans about taxes, college spending, insurance, and estate planning.

Stockbroker Fraud: Morgan Stanley Sues Convicted Ex-Broker, Former-Wells Fargo Broker Pleads Guilty, And Ex-John Thomas Financial Broker Evades Customer Complaints

Published on: May 29, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Morgan Stanley Files Lawsuit Against Ex-Broker Convicted in Kickback Scam

Morgan Stanley (MS) is suing ex-broker Darin DeMizio for legal fees. DeMizio was convicted over his involvement in a kickback scheme. Now, the financial firm wants him to pay back legal expenses because it says that he purposely defrauded the broker-dealer and hid the fraud while working there.

DeMizio was convicted five years ago for his scheme to pay kickbacks of $1.7 million to his brother and dad. He was sentenced to 38 months behind bars and ordered to pay Morgan Stanley $1.2 million in restitution.

FINRA Panel Tells Ameriprise to Pay Elderly Couple $1.7M Over Unsuitable Real Estate Investments

Published on: May 5, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A Financial Industry Arbitration panel says that Ameriprise Financial Services Inc. (AMP) must pay $1.17M to two senior investors for getting them involved in investments that failed. The panel said that the financial firm acted inappropriately when it advised Albertus Niehuis Jr., 82, and his wife Andrea, to put $1.03M into high-risk tenant-in-common investments involving hotels and office complexes six years ago. They are retired school teachers.

One of the investments failed. The other two lost significant value. Despite the ruling, the financial firm insists that it gave the Niehuises the appropriate investment advice and it stands behind the recommendations.

In 2012, ThinkAdvisor.com said that the number of senior investors is expected to reach 89 million in 2050. Currently, there are close to 40 million Americans belonging to the age 65 and over group. Unfortunately, elder financial fraud continues to be a serious problem.

SEC Files Fraud Charges Against American Pension Services and Its Founder Over $22M Investor Losses

Published on: April 30, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against American Pension Services Inc., a third-party administrator of retirement plans based in Utah and its founder Curtis L. DeYoung. The regulator says that they caused clients to lose about $22 million in risky investments involving certain business ventures. American Pension Services is now under receivership.

The securities scam allegedly goes back at least to 2005. Customers with retirement accounts containing non-traditional assets usually not found via IRA custodians, such as traditional (401)K retirement plans, were targeted. The Commission says that APS and DeYoung solicited customers to set up self-directed IRA accounts with third party administrator. DeYoung purportedly said this was “genuine self-direction” for investors seeking other options besides stocks, mutual funds, and bonds.

These clients had to fill out IRS Form 5305-A, which say that a third-party administrator doesn’t have discretionary authority over assets and it is up to the depositor to direct the assets’ investments. Although clients’ funds were kept at a bank in two master trust accounts, the complaint claims that APS controlled the money and mixed clients’ money together.