Private Placements

San Diego-Based Investment Advisor with Criminal Past Allegedly Defrauds Investors in Ponzi Scheme

May 3, 2019 | Malecki Law Team

San Diego-based investment advisor, Christopher Dougherty has been arrested for allegedly defrauding mostly senior investors in a multi-million-dollar Ponzi Scheme. The District Attorney’s office charged Mr. Dougherty with 82 felonies that include grand theft, financial elder abuse and securities fraud for activity between 2015 and 2018. According to allegations, Dougherty offered his clients the “opportunity” to invest in his private companies and non-existent tax-free private placements, promising around 5% in quarterly dividends. Meanwhile, Dougherty allegedly used investor money for his expenses and to pay some falsified “returns” to maintain the scam. For this alleged conduct, the SEC has charged Christopher Dougherty, along with his entities, C&D Professional Services, JTA Farm Enterprises, and JTA Real Estate Holdings for securities laws violations. Upon investigation, our securities fraud lawyers find many similarities between the alleged activities and other Ponzi Schemes.

A Ponzi Scheme is a type of investment fraud that uses investors’ money to pay falsified “returns” to other investors. The falsified returns provide the investors with the illusion that their money is producing genuine profits from investments. In reality, Ponzi Scheme perpetrators use the money meant for investments on personal expenses and maintaining the fraud, as suggested with this case. Ponzi Schemers usually gain the trust of their unsuspecting victims to get the funds. All Ponzi Schemes end when the perpetrator is not able to pay the investors their requested money, as seen with Mr. Dougherty. Eventually, there are not enough new funds coming in that can be used to maintain the Ponzi Scheme.

The SEC complaint alleges that Mr. Dougherty raised over $7 million through providing fraudulent advisory services through his firm, C&D Professional Services, Inc. Investors were allegedly offered the opportunity to invest in his organic beef ranch, a marijuana cultivation plan, and real estate holdings. Rather than using the investor funds to generate profits, Mr. Dougherty allegedly just shuffled the money around at his discretion. Mr. Dougherty allegedly used received investor funds to pay falsified returns to others, including payments to anyone who complained. Additionally, Dougherty spent the money on traveling, home remodeling, college tuition, and other personal expenses.

Are Private Placements a Tool for “Troubled Brokers”? That’s What a Wall Street Journal Study Suggests

June 28, 2018 | Malecki Law Team

If you want to find trouble on Wall Street, follow the money. A “troubled broker” is a broker more concerned for his or her commissions than the quality of the investments he or she recommends. Finding investors for private placements can be very lucrative for a broker, but very risky for a client. As complaints about a broker mount on his CRD, so does the lifespan of a broker and as their career prospects dwindle, they become more desperate. While not all private placements are bad investments, they must be approached with extreme caution and are not appropriate for all investors. If you get presented with a private placement, the very prospectus states: you should consult an attorney before signing. It’s a mandatory disclosure that regulators believe you should get and you should not ignore it. You should always consult a good New York securities lawyer before you give large amounts of your money to a non-public company in its infancy. Understanding the investment, the company and doing due diligence is the only way to protect your interests. If you don’t want to spend time or money to do that, don’t invest. The “next big thing” your broker might be selling you on may be your “next big problem.” There’s no free lunch.

These concerns about the multi-billion-dollar private capital markets are sound, based on a Wall Street Journal report finding that firms selling private placements have a much higher proportion of “troubled brokers”. The study compared the percentages of brokers with customer complaints, regulatory investigations and other disclosures at firms selling private placements with industry norms. Among the worried securities industry members include former FINRA enforcement chief, Robert Bennet who allegedly proclaimed private placements as a “perennial concern for regulators.”. Private placement is the offer and sale of unregistered securities to a limited number of investors for a company’s capital generation. Our securities fraud attorneys always knew that a higher prominence of “troubled brokers” is at firms selling private placements, now our belief has been confirmed.

According to the WSJ study, of the firms selling private placements, half had at least one troubled broker out of every ten brokers. Conversely, of the included firms that didn’t sell private placements, over 75% had less than that amount. Additionally, the analysis shows that half of the firms expelled by FINRA since 1993 sold private placements, despite comprising a lesser amount of the total industry. The private capital market has continued to rise with a reported $750 billion in sales. Given this, any insights about private placements should be known by investors, securities fraud attorneys, brokers and other affected financial industry members.

FINRA’s 2016 Priorities: FINRA is Searching for Sales Practice Issues

February 11, 2016 | Malecki Law Team

Brokers beware; FINRA is watching your firm, and you. Becoming embroiled in a regulatory inquiry or investigation can become a major and costly headache and impediment to registered representatives’ business.

In January 2016, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) released its annual list of priorities, showing what sorts of sweeps they may perform, and investigations they may bring, in the coming year. brokers working in the securities industry should be aware of the priorities that are relevant to them, including those having to do with sales practice.

FINRA’s 2016 Priorities make clear that they intend a top-down review of the following areas, which may lead to firm-wide or broker specific investigations, including: