Fred Howard: Sentenced, 5 Years

Fred Howard was sentenced to five years in federal prison on July 18 after pleading guilty to one count of securities fraud in U.S. District Court in Dallas.

Howard, a Florida resident at the time of his crime, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release after prison and to pay restitution of $4.7 million.

Howard sold partnership interests in Secured Capital Trust Ltd. (SCT) of Florida. He bought shares of the now-delisted Interfinancial Holdings Corp. on behalf of SCT, but failed to disclose he owned millions of shares in the company and thus had an incentive to boost the value of the stock.

Howard also received kickbacks in the form of rebates for buying Interfinancial shares, but he did not pass on the rebates to investors.