Texas Securities Fraud

FINRA Orders Houston-Based USCA Capital Advisors LLC to Pay $3.8M to 19 ExxonMobil Retirees

Published on: November 24, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel said that USCA Capital Advisors LLC must pay over $3.8 million to 19 ExxonMobil retirees whose investments were mismanaged the Houston-based wealth management firm. The self-regulatory organization also says that the Texas investment advisory firm misled the investors about its trading strategy.

It is not uncommon for Houston financial advisers to target ExxonMobil retirees as clients. The oil company has a huge outfit and other operations in the area. According to the investors, USCA was tasked with handling their retirement savings because of promises the investment advisors made to protect, oversee, and grow their accounts.

At a presentation by USCA RIA LLC, which is USCA’s investment advisory arm, advisers told investors about their Total Return model program, which they claimed would up S & P 500 gains while lowering the risks involved in trading equities. Investors said they were told the strategy would hold primarily exchange-traded funds and U.S. stocks in a rising market and turn the money into cash when the markets dropped. Trades were to be stimulated by “objective technical factors.”

Texas Pension Fund Sues Tesco For Securities Fraud

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

According to the Irving Firemen’s Relief and Retirement Fund, Tesco PLC and its directors misled investors, purportedly causing the Texas pension fund to buy the company’s stock at prices that were artificially inflated. Because of this, says the fund, it sustained substantial losses when Tesco announced in September that it had overstated profits because of accounting irregularities.

The supermarket chain’s shares plunged after it disclosed that certain income was booked prior to being earned and costs were identified after they were incurred. Last month, Tesco said that it had overstated profits by $422 million.

The Irving pension fund wants to get class action status. It wants to represent Tescho shareholders who bought the company’s American depository receipts, representing one ordinary share each, between February 2 and September 22, 2014. In its securities fraud case, the Texas fund contended that Tesco purposely deceived the public.

Ex-LPL Financial Adviser, James Bashaw from Texas, Lands at New Brokerage Firm

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

James “Jeb” Bashaw, the former star financial adviser at LPL Financial (LPLA) from Texas is now registered with International Assets Advisory, a small brokerage firm. LPL Financial fired Bashaw last month over allegations involving selling away. Then, for a while this month, he was with Wunderlich Securities Inc.

Selling away typically involves engaging in private securities transactions sans the required written disclosure or brokerage firm approval. It can also include borrowing from a client, as well as engaging in a transaction that is a potential conflict interest, again without the required disclosure in writing or firm approval.

Responding to the selling away allegations, Bashaw noted that he was “home supervised” and underwent more than a dozen perfect audits while affiliated with LPL. After his firing, Wunderlich took steps to hire Bashaw but there was a delay in transferring his license to the firm. In the end, the broker-dealer and Bashaw reportedly decided not to pursue a working relationship.

SEC Adds Children and Spouses of Texas Wyly Brothers to Securities Fraud Case Following $187M Verdict

Published on: October 28, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has added the children and wives of Texans Charles and Samuel Wily to the fraud case that has already rendered a $187.7M award, plus interest, in its favor. The move would come following Sam Wiley’s decision to file for bankruptcy earlier this month.

Over a dozen relatives are now on the lawsuit, including Caroline Wyly, who is the widow of Charles Wyly. He died in a car crash in 2011. Carolyn also has filed for bankruptcy. Also now included are the children of both Charles and Sam.

Regulators say the family members needed to be added to stop the dissipation of the two men’s assets. However, they noted that the relatives possess no legal rights or are traceable to the defendants ill-gotten gains.

Pension Fund Securities Lawsuits: JPMorgan to Face MBS Case, PERSM Files Class Action Case, & Institutional Clients Can Sue BP

Published on: October 17, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

JPMorgan Ordered to Face $10B Mortgage-Backed Securities Case

A federal judge said that JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) must face a class action securities fraud lawsuit filed by investors accusing the bank of misleading them about the risks involved in $10B of mortgage-backed securities that they purchased from the firm prior to the financial crisis.

U.S. District Judge Paul Oetken certified a class action as to the bank’s liability but not for damages. He said it wasn’t clear how investors were able to value the certificates they purchased considering that the market hadn’t been especially liquid. He did, however, say that the plaintiffs could attempt again to seek class certification on class damages.

LPL Financial Fires Texas Branch Manager Over Selling Away Claims, Settles with Senior Investors in Massachusetts for $541,000 Over Faulty Variable Annuity Switches

Published on: October 15, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

According to his report on the central registration depository, LPL Financial (LPLA) branch manager James Bashaw was fired last month for allegedly engaging in selling away, which involves taking part in private securities transactions without written disclosure or approval from a brokerage firm, as well as borrowing from a client and taking part in a business transaction that created a possible conflict, again without obtaining the necessary firm approval or written disclosure.

Bashaw, also known as “Jeb” Bashaw, is considered one of the leading financial advisers in Texas. Barron’s magazine ranks him as number one in the state with assets totaling $3.8 billion.

According to Investment News, while the CRD, which is the central licensing and registration system for the securities industries and regulators, provided these details regarding Bashaw’s termination, LPL has not elaborated, except to report on his BrokerCheck profile that the broker did not follow industry regulations and firm policies. Bashaw is now registered with Wunderlich Securities Inc.

Texas’ Wyly Brothers Ordered to pay More than $300M In Fraud Sanctions

Published on: September 28, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

A federal judge has ordered Texas businessman Sam Wiley and the estate of his deceased brother Charles Wiley to pay $187.7 million in disgorgement plus prejudgment interest-bringing the total sanctions to over $300 million for their involvement in an offshore scam. The brothers were found liable on civil securities fraud charges accusing them of using offshore trusts to conceal stock sales, resulting in $553 million in profits.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had wanted the Wylys to pay $729 million in sanctions, including for all unpaid taxes on the profits made from the scheme plus interest. The government said that the Wylys used their improper gains to buy $100 million in real estate and spent tens of million dollars on luxury spending and charitable donations.

Meantime, lawyers for the Wyly brothers argued that the trusts were established for estate planning and tax purposes but that the two men did not control them. Over 700 transactions were sold in four companies, none of which the two men disclosed in regulatory findings. The Wyly brothers were insiders in the companies involved.

Man to Pay $40.4M for Texas Securities Fraud Involving Bitcoin Ponzi Scam

Published on: September 20, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Trendon T. Shavers, who is accused of operating a Texas Ponzi scam involving a Bitcoin scheme he operated from his residence must pay more than $40.4 million. The SEC filed a securities fraud case against him and his company Bitcoin Savings & Trust last year and sought disgorgement.

According to the regulator, Shavers, a Texas resident, raised more than 700,000 bitcoins while promising investors interest as high as 7% weekly. The allegedly fraudulent activities lasted from November 2011 through August 2012 when the Ponzi scam collapsed.

In a promo that he posted on online, Shavers solicited lenders, offering 1% interest daily for loans involving at least 50 bitcoins. He also published posts touting nearly zero risk, claiming that the business was doing exceptionally well. When his Texas securities scam failed, Shavers showed preference to longtime investors and friends when giving out redemptions.

Investment Advisory Firm Based in Houston, Texas Charged with Securities Fraud Involving Conflicts of Interest

Published on: September 2, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The SEC is charging Robare Group Ltd., an investment advisory firm headquartered in Houston, Texas, with securities fraud. The regulator’s enforcement division says that the firm and co-owners Jack L. Jones Jr. and Mark L. Robare made mutual fund recommendations to clients even though they had a conflict.

According to the SEC, Robare and a broker-dealer purportedly had an undisclosed compensation agreement. The brokerage firm paid Robare Group compensation-a portion of each dollar that every client invested in certain mutual funds-for recommending the investments

The deal gave Robare, Jones, and the firm incentive for favoring these funds over other investments. The firm is accused of making about $440K in compensation over eight years from the agreement.

SEC Files Charges in $4.5M Houston-Based Pump-and-Dump Scam

Published on: August 18, 2014 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The SEC has filed charges against Chimera Energy, a Houston-based penny stock scam, and four individuals for their purported involvement in a pump-and-dump scam that made over $4.5 million in illicit proceeds. Investors were led to believe that the company was creating technology that would allow for oil-and-gas production that was environmentally friendly.

The regulator claims that Andrew I. Farmer set up Chimera Energy and secretly got control of all the shares issued in an IPO. He then set up a promotional campaign to hype the stock, touting technology that would extract shale oil without fracking.

In the alleged Texas securities fraud, Chimera Energy claimed that an entity named China Inland gave it an exclusive license to develop and commercialize the non-hydraulic extraction technologies. The SEC says that China Inland is not a real company and that Chimera Energy had no such technology or even a license.