It’s Halloween weekend and kids throughout the country are dressed in costume. (Same for a fair amount of adults in college towns too.) 75 years ago, the public was terrified when the hit movie Son of Frankenstein was released in theaters. Today it takes more than a movie to scare most adults. For this Halloween […]
Investment Fraud Roundup – September 2013
This post summarizes recent enforcement actions against stockbrokers. You may be able to recover your money if you suffered losses as a result of investment fraud, unregistered offerings of securities, excessive trades, unauthorized trades, bad investment advice (suitability rules), or broker misconduct. Kevin Cline, Robert Burr, Vincent Christopher & Thomas Gilleland – Source Capital Group Kevin […]
Cockroaching – New Trend in Investment Fraud Cases
“Cockroaching” – I must admit until I picked up today’s Wall Street Journal, I wasn’t familiar with term. Although the term was new to me, the underlying practice is unfortunately well known in the world of investment fraud lawyers. Cockroaching refers to the practice of stockbrokers jumping from one troubled brokerage firm to another. The […]
Half of Americans Can’t Spot Fraud – Investment Fraud Post
When I read a headline today in InvestmentNews that said “Financial Fraud is Rampant but Most People Can’t Spot It,” I wasn’t surprised. Because we only handle investment fraud cases with losses of $100,000 or more, most of our clients are savvy, sophisticated men and women. We have represented lawyers, doctors and bank vice presidents. […]
Affinity Fraud? SEC Charges Broker in Alleged $4.7 Million Ponzi Scheme
The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Larry Dearman Sr, an investment advisor working for Focus Group Advisors, with defrauding dozens of investors between 2008 and 2012. They say that many victims entrusted him with their savings because of his affiliation with a small town Oklahoma church. According to published reports, Dearman at one time served […]
Investment Fraud – "Guaranteed Returns" Was Really a Scam
Every week we hear about people who gave money to a promoter offering “guaranteed returns.” About the only thing guaranteed is the loss of all or most your money. Unless you are putting money into government savings bond, nothing is guaranteed. (Many of our readers would question the safety of savings bonds!) One of the […]
22 Year Sentence Upheld In Hollywood Investment Fraud Case
There is a popular perception that courts simply give white collar fraudsters a slap on the wrist – a quick court appearance in the afternoon and then home in time for dinner. While we believe that the government hasn’t prosecuted enough criminal fraud cases against the big banks and Wall Street, federal judges do hand […]