Former San Francisco advisor will get nine-years for working Ponzi.
Edwin Lickiss earlier admitted that he defrauded a minimum of 93 victims of over $9.5 million from 1998 by way of 2024.
A former financial advisor who ran a Ponzi scheme in northern California for greater than 25 yesterday was sentenced to 9 years for the fraud, in accordance to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Edwin E. Lickiss Jr. earlier had pleaded to wire fraud and cash laundering in reference to the fraud.
Lickiss, 78, of Danville, California, admitted that he defrauded a minimum of 93 victims of over $9.5 million from 1998 by way of September 2024.
As a part of the scheme, Lickiss stated that he would make investments victims’ cash in unique, tax-free bonds that supplied charges of return as much as 30%, in line with the Department of Justice.
Lickiss additionally claimed that members of his family had invested within the bonds, that he charged no financial backing charges as a result of he had already profited so considerably, and that buyers may redeem their cash at any time.
According to the Department of Justice, the bonds didn’t exist. Instead, the previous advisor, who had been suspended from the securities business for 4 months by FINRA in 2014, funneled cash from later victims to pay earlier buyers, according to a Ponzi scheme.
Lickiss was by no means once more licensed to promote securities however continued his scheme. According to the federal authorities, he additionally siphoned sufferer funds to pay private bills, together with money withdrawals, residence renovations, journey, and funds on autos, mortgages, and private bank cards.
“Nine years,” stated Scott Silveer, a plaintiff’s lawyer representing buyers who gave cash to Lickiss. “This man ripped off individuals for greater than 20 years. We estimated he stole within the neighborhood of $20 million to $30 million.”
“From my purchasers’ standpoint, the punishment doesn’t match the crime,” Silver stated. “Keep in thoughts that was a disciplined fraud for over 25 years. There isn’t any punishment he doesn’t deserve.”
“It’s an oz. of justice, though he’s an previous man himself now,” Silver added.
The fallout from Lickiss’ scheme continues.
In what stunned some within the business, Arkadios Capital, a mid-sized broker-dealer in Georgia with 350 monetary advisors, in June misplaced a FINRA arbitration lawsuit and was ordered to pay $2.7 million in damages to a claimant who was not a shopper of Arkadios however was the sufferer of Lickiss’ Ponzi scheme.
The twist? Michael Lickiss, an ex-Arkadios dealer, labored aspect by aspect together with his father in a suburb of San Francisco whereas Edwin Lickiss ran the fraud.
Michael Lickiss, the one-time Arkadios advisor on the middle of the investor’s declare, labored at Arkadios from the tip of 2021 to the summer season of 2024, in line with his BrokerCheck profile, and was primarily based in Danville, Calif.
Michael’s father, Edwin Lickiss, by no means registered with Arkadios. The lawyer for the purchasers, Silver, stated Arkadios has appealed the arbitrators’ determination.
