An Illinois federal jury recently convicted a father on 24 criminal counts and his son on 13 criminal counts. The defendants allegedly convinced family members and two church congregations to invest in what was a $1.3 million Ponzi scheme involving apartments in distress.
A father and son were convicted by an Illinois federal court jury in December 2019 on counts of fraud and money laundering. The two were found to have persuaded family members and two church congregations to invest in distressed apartments, though it was discovered to instead be a $1.3 million Ponzi scheme.
In 2018, FINRA fined broker-dealers a total of $68 million, which was a 5% increase from $65 million in 2017, while the average fine per case increased in 2018 to $107,000 from only $65,000 in 2017.
FINRA has fined Morgan Stanley Smith Barney $10 million for anti-money laundering program failures under the Bank Secrecy Act and for its failure to comply with Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933.
Former registered rep Bobby Eugene Guess was arrested following his indictment on charges of securities fraud, theft, money laundering and engaging in organized criminal activity related to the multi-million-dollar sale of investments in an internet advertising company.
Peggy Ann Fulford, 58, formerly of Houston and now residing in New Orleans, has been arrested and charged with wire fraud, mail fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering.
Gary Snisky of Longmont, Colorado, has been arrested on charges of mail fraud and money laundering during a scheme to defraud investors.
