Securities Fraud Attorneys Blog
Chicago-based Stoltmann Law Offices represents investors nationwide on a contingency fee basis who’ve been victimized by Ponzi schemes. One of the most notorious Ponzi schemes in recent years involved Horizon Private Equity, which bilked some $110 million from 400 investors. The operators of the scheme have been sued by investors in a class action lawsuit, but some investors have viable individual claims to pursue against Oppenheimer through FINRA Arbitration. The fund was sold by brokers at Oppenheimer.
An investor class-action suit claims “Oppenheimer management, from 2008 through December 31, 2016, actively aided” John J. Woods (the lead seller for Horizon); his brother, defendant James Wallace Woods; and their cousin, defendant Michael J. Mooney, each a financial adviser at the firm, with funneling investor money into Horizon.” The Horizon scheme “continued to raise money from unsuspecting investors through Southport Capital, a registered investment advisory firm, for nearly five more years,” the suit alleges. The alleged Ponzi scheme, according to the suit, “made no significant profits from legitimate investments, and `returns’ to investors came instead from new investor money.”
On August 20 2021, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed an emergency action against Woods, Southport Capital and Horizon Private Equity, III, LLC for “alleged violations of federal securities fraud, with the intent of freezing the parties’ assets, appointing a receiver and gaining a full accounting of the finances involved.”
Did you or someone you know lose money with John Forsythe? If so, the attorneys at Stoltmann Law Offices are interested in speaking with you about those losses. Mr. Forsythe was previously registered with Oppenheimer & Co. in New York, New York. He allegedly executed unsuitable, excessive and unauthorized trades, failed to follow instructions on an options transaction and permitted the execution of trades by an individual who was not a signatory on the accounts. These are against securities laws. Oppenheimer has a duty to reasonably supervise its registered brokers, and, if it does not, can be held liable for losses. Please call 312-332-4200 today if you suffered losses. We may be able to help you bring a claim against Oppenheimer on a contingency fee basis. The call to us is free with no obligation. Before Oppenheimer, Forsythe was registered with CIBC World Markets and First Jersey Securities.
According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Jason Likens allegedly borrowed money from two customers without the approval of his firm and made false attestations to his firm on two annual compliance questionnaires. These are against securities rule and regulations. For this he was fined $10,000 and suspended from the industry for 15 months. He was previously registered with Wachovia Securities in St. Louis, Missouri from January 2004 until January 2004, UBS in Asheville, North Carolina from March 2005 until November 2008, Stanford Group Company in Asheville from November 2008 until March 2009, Oppenheimer in Asheville from March 2009 until August 2016 and International Assets Advisory in Orlando, Florida from August 2016 until February 2017. He has three customer disputes against him, and he is currently not registered within the industry. Please call our securities law firm today to find out how you may be able to recover your losses by suing Oppenheimer on a contingency fee basis, which means we only get paid if your recover your losses. Please call today, as there is a statute of limitations on most cases.
Beth DuToit has received two regulatory sanctions and was terminated from her most recent employer. She allegedly “had customers sign a blank form to facilitate the transfer of multiple accounts to the firm rather than have the customers sign transfer request forms for each of the accounts transferred.” Dutoit then submitted the forms with photocopied signatures to the firm as authentic. This was against securities laws. The Oklahoma Department of Securities sanctioned her in 2015 after allegations surfaced that she duplicated customer signatures on documents and placed a client’s initials on a firm document without the individual’s consent. This is also against securities laws. For this, she was issued a six month suspension and placed on heightened supervision for two years. More recently, she was issued a three month suspension and fined $5,000 by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).
According to a recent Letter of Acceptance, Waiver and Consent (AWC) with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), Barbara Dalton Russell was accused of being involved in an outside business activity without providing full and complete written notice to her member firm, Divine Capital. This is against securities rules and regulations. The misconduct occurred between August 2013 and December 2013. For this, she was fined $5,000 and suspended from association with any FINRA member firm in any and all capacities for a period of two months.
Stoltmann Law Offices has learned that Bambi Holzer, a former representative with Newport Coast Securities has been permanently barred from the industry. Allegedly, Ms. Holzer made unsuitable recommendations, misrepresented material facts, breached fiduciary duty, made unsuitable transactions and made unsuitable recommendations involving private placement securities, among other transgressions. She was registered with Wedbush Securities at the time of the allegations. She has been permanently barred from the industry.
