Enforcement Actions Criminal Civil

Tomme Bromseth pleaded guilty to mail fraud and structuring financial transactions to evade reporting requirements in connection with his sale of life-settlement investments for Houston-based A&O Life Funds and other A&O entities. According to court documents, Bromseth sold nearly $3.1 million in A...

The Bexar County District Attorney re-filed an indictment against Terrence Riely of San Antonio on August 26, alleging misapplication of fiduciary funds in connection with the fraudulent sale of promissory notes to Texas residents. Riely was a director of Paramco Financial Group Inc. The indictment...

Richard Donald Theye, who for nine years ran a securities and commodities trading operation from Austin, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on July 30 to one count of securities and commodities fraud and eight counts of wire fraud. Theye was indicted June 1 after a joint investigation by the...

Stephen Bayliss Jones of Corpus Christi was sentenced to 12 years in prison on July 12 for stealing money from investors in a building materials scam. Jones had previously pleaded guilty to a charge of felony theft. Judge Nanette Hasette of the 28th District Court in Nueces County sentenced Jones to...

Dennis Woods Bowden, one of the top executives at the now-defunct AmeriFirst Funding Corp. in Dallas, was indicted May 26 in U.S. District Court in Dallas on nine counts of securities fraud and six counts of mail fraud. Bowden, on his own and through sales agents, allegedly sold millions of dollars...

A Limestone County grand jury indicted Reginald Lee Clark on May 19 on charges of theft and misapplication of fiduciary property.. Clark, who did business as Clark Investment Advisors, most recently in McLennan County, allegedly stole more than $400,000 from his clients. Clark was not registered to...

Leland Anthony Patin of Dallas was sentenced to seven years in prison and ordered to pay $172,500 in restitution for securities fraud. Patin was a salesman for Edward Digges, the architect of a multistate fraudulent scheme involving the sale and lease of credit card and debit card terminals. Judge...

Melissa Marie Ramon of Bellaire on May 10 was sentenced to serve 10 years in federal prison for an investment scam that was investigated by the State Securities Board and prosecuted by the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Houston. U.S. District Judge Vanessa Gilmore also ordered Ramon to pay $3...

A Denton County grand jury on May 6 indicted Patricia Ann Noble for securities fraud and selling securities without being a registered dealer or agent. The indictment alleges that Noble, doing business as Noble Funds Asset Management, engaged in fraud by knowingly misrepresenting that investors'...

Albert "Andy"Anzaldua of McAllen was indicted on 14 counts of securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud for operating an allegedly fraudulent high-yield investment program. The indictment was unsealed April 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas...