Securities Lawyers Blog
According to news sources Bryan Anderson (Anderson) has been charged with wire fraud, money laundering and securities fraud, according to the FBI and the Alabama Securities Commission Anderson agreed to plead guilty to the charges under a plea agreement. Under the plea agreement Anderson will pay restitution of about $3.1 million to the victims of his Ponzi scheme.
According to the allegations, between January 2009 and January 2014, Anderson’s false investment promises caused 18 individuals to deliver more than $8.4 million to Anderson, which he deposited into an account held at BancorpSouth. When the scheme collapsed in May 2014, about 12 investors lost about $3.1 million.
It is alleged that Anderson solicited investors to invest in stock options that he said employed various trading strategies. However, the stock options he described were not registered securities. Anderson also offered investments in a company he owned called 360 Properties. Beginning in or about 2009, Anderson falsely represented to investors in 360 Properties that their returns would come from leased property income, when in fact there were no leased properties.
However, Anderson was allegedly operating a Ponzi scheme with investor funds by paying returns to previous investors with money from new investors and siphoning off funds to pay personal expenses. According to authorities, Anderson transferred investor money from his wife’s bank accounts to another account and made only a small percentage of the investments promised to investors.
Anderson was a registered broker associated with MetLife Securities, Inc. (MetLife) from October 1998 to February 2012. Thereafter, Anderson was associated with Pruco Securities, LLC (Pruco) from February 2012 to September 13, 2012, when Pruco terminated his employment.
Recently, The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) sanctioned and barred Anderson’s supervisor Terry Bagwell (Bagwell) in all supervisory capacities. FINRA alleged that Bagwell became aware of Anderson’s participation in private securities transactions that were not approved by Pruco. According to FINRA, Bagwell actually participated in certain of these unapproved private securities transactions. Despite Bagwell’s investments with Anderson which constituted red flags of misconduct, Bagwell took no steps to supervise Anderson or otherwise report the private securities transactions.
Investors who have suffered losses may be able recover their losses through securities arbitration. The attorneys at Gana Weinstein LLP are experienced in representing investors in cases of selling away and brokerage firms failure to supervise their representatives. Our consultations are free of charge and the firm is only compensated if you recover.