Alleged $17.5M Texas Investor Fraud Leads to Criminal Indictment

Authorities in Texas have arrested Phillip Michael Carter for fraud. Carter, a North Texas real estate developer, is accused of raising $17.5M from investors in the state who thought their money was going toward development projects. His victims included older investors. The Texas State Securities Board announced his arrest.

Carter’s wife, Shelley Noel Carter, also faces investor fraud and money laundering charges. Another man, Richard Gregory Tilford, who was indicted earlier this month in Collins County, is charged with selling about $5M in fraudulent real estate investments from investors. He allegedly did not tell investors that he was a convicted felon who had pleaded guilty to not submitting a tax return several years ago.

Carter owns North Forty Development and Texas Cash Cow Investments. He and Tilford purportedly told investors their money would be put into residential and commercial property development. Instead, Carter allegedly used their funds for:

· His own expenses

· To pay his own IRS tax lien

· Other uses

Carter also is accused of hiding his financial woes from investors and not letting them know that he and one his sales representatives, Bobby Eugene Guess, were under investigation by the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Texas for fraud. Guess, who ran Texas First Financial, was sentenced to 12 years in state prison earlier this year.

In 2016, the Texas Securities Commissioner submitted an Emergency Cease and Desist Order against Guess and his financial firm mandating that they stop making allegedly illegal sales involving the North Forty Investment Program. He pleaded guilty to investment fraud that he conducted through his firm.

Another man, former Plano, Texas pastor Timothy Booth, was sentenced to 68 years in state prison for stealing about $23M from investors he had connected with through Guess. Carter, meantime, is also accused of making misrepresentations to investors about his personal and professional background, including that the had worked for “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” author Robert Kiyosaki.

Texas Investor Fraud Lawyers
Throughout Texas, Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas, LLP (SSEK Law Firm) represents investors that have sustained huge losses due to fraud. Our Texas investor fraud lawyers work with retail investors, high net worth individual investors, and institutional investors to recoup their losses. Contact SSEK Law Firm today.