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The attorneys at Stoltmann Law Offices have represented dozens of ponzi
scheme victims in FINRA arbitration claims and lawsuits and have recovered millions for our clients. Newspaper articles
of some of our more interesting cases are listed below. * I) Nevin Gillette
& ING ING settles with
investors bilked of $2.9M Investment News, December
4, 2008, (Bruce Kelly) * ING Financial Partners last month reached a settlement with 38 defrauded investors to return $2.9
million stolen by two former brokers, both of whom are now in jail. The
two representatives, Nevin Gillette and Richard Wells, ran two long-running Ponzi schemes, according to the attorneys who
represented the clients, John Burke of Higgins and Burke PC in St. Charles, Ill., and Andrew Stoltmann at an eponymous firm
in Chicago. * Mr. Gillette had been sentenced in September
2007 to eleven years in federal prison for defrauding his clients, while Mr. Wells was sentenced in February to three years
and five months for the fraud. Because the clients who settled with ING
Financial Partners Inc. of Des Moines, Iowa, did not have account agreements with the firm, they sued the firm in Whiteside
(Ill.) County Circuit Court, Stoltmann said in a statement. * The settlements
with ING that related to Mr. Gillette totaled $2.6 million on behalf of 31 clients. ING settled cases involving Mr. Wells for $270,000 on behalf of seven clients. Mr. Gillette, while working with ING, told investors they were putting their money into safe investments
called "guaranteed investment contracts" or "trust accounts," the attorneys said in a statement. Instead, Mr. Gillette used the funds for his personal use, including a new home, fishing
and hunting equipment, paintings, suits and jewelry. Likewise, Mr. Wells
used the funds for his own benefit, the attorneys said. * Most of the clients have
further claims against others in the matter, including broker-dealers where the two worked previously or concurrently with
ING. ING Financial Partners is one of the broker-dealers in the ING Advisors Network. A spokesman for ING Financial Partners declined to comment. *** II) Stephen
Walker and Linsco LPL Q-C investors:
We were taken in oil deal The Quad City Times, May 22, 2008 (Stephen Elliott) * A Rock Island financial adviser allegedly defrauded at least 10 investors, including seven in the Quad-Cities, out
of millions of dollars through the sale of unregistered oil and gas securities described as "surefire investments"
and "guaranteed." As a result, the alleged victims are seeking
more than $4.9 million in damages from Rock Island financial adviser Stephen Walker and his former company, Linsco/Private
Ledger Corp. A complaint filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority also seeks an undetermined amount of punitive
damages for LPL's "complete failure to supervise Walker." * Mr. Walker formerly worked out of Quad City Bank and Trust in Moline and Sauk Valley
Bank in Sterling, allegedly pressuring and misleading investors, according to the complaint. Damages are being sought through the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's arbitration process
in Chicago. Andrew Stoltmann, a Chicago attorney representing investors, said anyone who opens an account at any brokerage
firm also agrees to binding arbitration as a first step to recovering damages. * Mr. Stoltmann said seven of the 10 clients of
Mr. Walker's were from the Quad-Cities area. Three others were from the Sauk Valley area. He said his clients were told by Mr. Walker to invest in Aspen Exploration Inc., a Texas-based oil exploration company.
Mr. Walker allegedly sold more than $25 million in unregistered securities for Aspen, according to Mr. Stoltmann. "All of the money is gone and people sustained huge, huge losses," Mr. Stoltmann
said. "They were told not to worry, that their investment was going to come through. "They were told this by Walker and other people affiliated with Aspen." * Mr. Stoltmann's complaint alleges, "Walker's efforts in selling the Aspen related security
for Linsco clients was well known at Linsco, Sauk Valley and Quad City Bank." According to the complaint, one couple from the Quad-Cities invested more than $500,000 in the securities, financing
part of the investment with a $100,000 loan from a 401K plan and a $108,000 home equity loan. Mr. Walker could not be located for
comment. * A spokeswoman for Quad City Bank and Trust confirmed
Mr. Walker is no longer there. She referred inquiries to LPL attorney Peter Gillies in Boston. Mr. Gillies could not be reached
for comment. "Walker told the claimants for every $25,000 they invested
in one of the Aspen wells, they would received between $800-$1,000 monthly for the next 20 years," the complaint said.
Jim Nix, an attorney with the Illinois Secretary of State's Security Department,
said he filed an emergency order to suspend Mr. Walker's broker's license. He said LPL terminated Mr. Walker's employment.
* "The department is working on a case against Mr. Walker that would revoke his license,"
Mr. Nix said. Those hearings are scheduled to take place July 14 and 15
in Chicago. Mr. Nix's agency regulates the registration of all stock brokers and investment advisers in the state, he said.
No criminal charges have been filed in connection with the case. * Mr. Stoltmann is requesting damages of $3,785,539 on behalf of all of his clients. He
is also seeking an addition $1,126,269 for four of those clients under the Illinois Elder Abuse Statute. Mr. Stoltmann said the case will probably be decided in 2009 by the Financial Industry Regulatory
Authority. *** III)
William Sirls and Wachovia Wachovia
Broker Engaged In $40 Million Investment Scam The Toledo Blade, February 20, 2007 (Mark Reiter) * A complaint filed with brokerage regulators claims that William Sirls bilked millions
of dollars from Wachovia Securities' clients in fraudulent stock and real estate transactions to feed a gambling addiction.
Mr. Sirls, 42, who is facing charges in U.S. District Court in Toledo for
money laundering and mail fraud, was a branch manager and vice president of a Wachovia Securities office in Toledo until March,
2005. * Federal prosecutors said the scamming of clients and co-workers at Wachovia and others involved $17 million to $40 million and began in 2000 and continued until last September, nearly two years after Mr. Sirls resigned from the brokerage. The complaint, filed on behalf of two investors who lost more than $2.5 million, alleges that the Grosse Ile, Mich., resident took funds from Wachovia clients and others in shortterm trading and high-risk stock options to pay gambling debts. * The complaint, which was provided by the investors' attorney, Andrew Stoltmann, was filed with the National Association of Securities Dealers, the self-regulatory body of U.S. brokerage firms. Mr. Sirls, a licensed securities dealer since 1990, allegedly lured investors into fictional and fraudulent schemes that promised big returns on stock trades and real estate. The complaint said investor Ken Walker, 83, of Grosse Ile and Marco Island, Fla., lost $2.4 million of nearly $4.9 million in what he thought was being invested in real estate transactions in California. * But Mr. Sirls used the money in "what amounted to a giant, multimillion dollar ponzi scheme," the complaint said. Mr. Sirls' Toledo attorney, Stephen Hartman, said that his client is a compulsive gambler. "Bill does have a gambling problem, which, frankly, can be just as serious as a drug or alcohol problem," Mr. Hartman said. In the complaint, Mr. Stoltmann, a Chicago securities attorney, alleges that irregularities in client accounts should have alerted Wachovia to the fraud, and that two Wachovia employees - Mark Schneider and Randy Hunt - profited in the real estate scheme. * Mr. Schneider is a senior vice president and Mr. Hunt is vice president of Wachovia's downtown Toledo office. Mr. Hunt took over the now-closed West Toledo branch after Mr. Sirls resigned. "Wachovia did not protect their clients," Mr. Stoltmann said. "Both my clients maintained accounts with Wachovia through the present. Even after Mr. Sirls resigned, he continued this scheme with my clients." * A high school classmate of Mr. Sirls, Dennis Pousak, also is represented by Mr. Stoltmann in the complaint. Mr. Pousak, a Northville, Mich., attorney, said he began investing with Mr. Sirls in November, 2005, in part, because of a friendship that began more than 25 years at Gabriel Richard High School, Riverview, Mich. "Bill is a very gregarious guy. He is very smart. Bill was good at whatever he tried - from dunking the basketball to being a scratch player at golf. Anything Bill tried, athletically and academically, he excelled and exceeded with very apparent ease," Mr. Pousak said. *
The complaint alleges that Wachovia officials began investigating the volume of trading in Mr. Sirls' personal accounts and issues in his personal life in the months before he left the company. Mr. Hunt said yesterday that he couldn't comment on the allegations raised in the investor complaint. However, he said that an internal investigation into Mr. Sirls has begun. "Beyond that, I cannot comment on the investigation," he said. Mr. Schneider couldn't be reached for comment. |