Texas Securities Fraud

Houston Broker at Deutsche Bank Alex Brown Leaves Suicide Note Suggesting Clients Sue over Aravali Fund

Published on: March 23, 2009 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

Tales of the stock market crash of 1929 contain images of victims jumping from windows of Wall Street buildings. An eerily sign of the similarities to the current 21st Century crash may be the recent suicide of a despondent broker at Deutsche Bank Alex Brown Securities (Deutsche Bank), who left a note telling clients to contact a lawyer to seek recovery of losses.

A law suit, with Smith’s suicide letter attached, was soon filed by Bernard and Joan Spain, of Pennsylvania, and Lonnie Duncan, of California, trustee of the Duncan Family Trust. The initial paragraph of the letter states:

“Since you are reading this, I have just taken my life. It was necessary because the alternatives were totally unpalatable. I consider you a friend first and a client second. That said, I had a fiduciary relationship with you that charged me with putting your interest first. I can say that I always tried to do that. However, some of the investment recommendations that I chose did not work out the way I had anticipated. I regret that very much.”

Multibillion-Dollar Stanford Securities Fraud Scam Has Investors Contacting Houston Stockbroker Fraud Lawyers for Help

Published on: February 19, 2009 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Robert Allen Stanford and three of his companies for their alleged involvement in a multibillion dollar investment fraud scheme. His companies that are named in the complaint include Stanford International Bank (SIB), Stanford Group Company (SGC), which is a Houston-based investment adviser and broker dealer, and Stanford Capital Management, which is based in Antigua. The SEC is asking for emergency relief for the investors that have been victimized by the alleged scheme.

The SEC complaint, filed in Dallas, Texas accuses Stanford and friends and family that he works with of orchestrating the investor scam. The SEC claims that SIB used SGC financial advisers to sell some $8 billion worth of “certificates of deposit” to investors with the promise they would receive high interest rates that were, in fact, unsubstantiated and improbable. The SEC says the defendants misrepresented these CD’s when they told investors that they were safe.

The SEC complaint also contends that another scam involving $1.2 billion in sales of Stanford Allocation Strategy (SAS), which is a proprietary mutual fund wrap program, involved the use of materially bogus historical performance information that helped SGC to grow the SAS program from under $10 million in 2004 to over $1 billion. In 2007 and 2008 , SGC earned fees of about $25 million as a result. The program’s bogus performance was used to bring in registered investment advisers with substantial books of business. These advisers were then provided with substantial incentives to transfer client assets to SIB’s CD program.

Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan and Others fail to Obtain Dismissal of IPO Case by Houston Judge

Published on: February 9, 2009 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

In Texas, a Houston judge has ruled that a would-be class securities lawsuit filed against JP Morgan Securities, Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner and Smith and a number of other defendants can move forward. The plaintiffs were investors in Superior Offshore International Inc., a company that collapsed following a failed initial public offering. The four other defendants are former Superior company executives.

In the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Judge Nancy Atlas found that the plaintiffs met their burden when pleading material misrepresentations and omissions in Superior’s registration statement. She denied the defendants’ request to dismiss the complaint.

Superior Offshore International Inc. had provided commercial diving services and subsea construction to the natural gas and crude oil industry in the Gulf of Mexico. The company began IPO proceedings of about 10.2 million commercial shares at $15/share in April 2007. Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan acted as the primary underwriters. It was after this that Superior experienced major losses and its price dropped until it reached $1.08/share in April 2008. Soon after, Superior announced that it was shutting down operations.

In their consolidated class action, the plaintiffs claimed that while the registration statement revealed that the Superior board chairperson’s two sons were receiving salaries of $48,000 and $120,000, it failed to note that the two men weren’t doing any significant tasks for their respective incomes. The plaintiffs also questioned Superior’s claims that there was a high demand for its services and that certain hurricane-related projects were expected to continue for a number of years when, in fact, that work had declined significantly. They challenged Superior’s claim that it had multiple customers and maintained that the company had provided materially misleading data about its management team.

The defendants had tried dismissing the complaint by citing a failure to state a claim. They said they could not be held liable for events that transpired after the IPO. While the Texas court said it recognized that Superior’s registration statement included warnings about possible risks that could arise, it determined that the plaintiffs were not questioning the accuracy of the potential risks that were noted. Rather, the court said they were challenging the completeness and accuracy of the information Superior had provided about its current state at the time of the IPO. Continue Reading ›

Texas State Securities Board Orders Golden Triangle Energy Corp. and Vision Asset Development Co. to Stop Selling Securities

Published on: February 1, 2009 | by Shepherd Smith Edwards & Kantas, LLP

The Texas State Securities Board has issued an emergency cease and desist order telling oil and gas companies Golden Triangle Energy Corp. and Vision Asset Development Co. to stop selling securities. The board is accusing both companies of lying to investors about certain payments and selling unregistered stock shares.

The board contends that the companies’ leader, Michael Dannelly, sold unregistered stock shares and units of interest in a joint venture involved with oil and gas wells and leases. Dannelly previously did business as Oil & Gas Managing Partners.

While selling interests in oil and gas well drilling programs, Dannelly is accused of spending millions of investors’ funds at casinos and on other personal expenses. The order also says that Dannelly organized a Ponzi scam and neglected to tell investors that he had was sued for securities fraud. Two sales agents, Harley Garvin and William McGarry, are also accused of selling unregistered stock shares.

In a separate case, and just one day before issuing the order against Vision Asset Development Co. and Golden Triangle Energy Corp, the board put out a search warrant affidavit against Impact Energy accusing the company of engaging in fraud when it sold natural gas securities.

Texas State Securities Board
The Texas State Securities Board works to protect Texas investors and make sure that a free and competitive market exists in the state. Texas securities laws are committed to prohibiting securities fraud and misrepresentation during securities sales. The state laws also offer sanctions and remedies in the event of violations.
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