Securities Fraud Lawyer Blog
Five Star Financial Hit with Cease and Desist Order by California’s Department of Business Oversight
On August 9, 2016 the State of California’s Department of Business Oversight issued a cease and desist order against Five Star Financial (dba JBAH Insurance Solutions) and its control persons and officers Anna Holt and John Biyikoglu over charges that they sold securities to the public in the form of “JPMorgan Structured Investments” without being registered as a broker dealer, and by way of material ommisions of fact.
The Commissioner’s cease and desist order alleges that in 2014, Five Star Financial, through its control persons Anna Holt and John Biyikoglu sold JPMorgan Structured Investments to California residents promising a return of between sixteen and twenty percent. Upon receiving the funds from the investors, the company deposited the funds into an account where they were commingled for non investment purposes such as paying for general operating expenses, paying sales commissions and personal expenses, and repaying investors from other transactions. The Commissioner further alleges that Biyikoglu told investors that their funds had increased in value, when in fact the money had been spent by Five Star Financial, rather than invested as described to the investors.
As a result of its investigation the Commissioner concluded that Five Star Financial and Anna Holt and John Biyikoglu violated the California Corporate Securities Laws by acting as an unregistered broker dealer and by selling securities by way of material omissions of fact.
The above allegations contained in the Department of Business Oversight’s cease and desist order have not been proven, and the issuance of a cease and desist order represents the Department’s initiation of a formal proceeding in which findings as to the allegations in the cease and desist order have not been made, and does not represent a decision as to any of the allegations contained in the cease and desist order.
The Law Office of David Liebrader practices exclusively in the field of investment loss recovery and our securities attorneys have successfully resolved over 1000 investment loss cases over the past 20 years. Recoveries for clients top $40 million. The types of claims we have successfully handled include those involving unsuitable investments (suitability claims), excessive trading or “churning”, misrepresentations and omissions, unauthorized trading, over-concentration of illiquid or overly risky investments, pump and dump scams involving “penny stocks”, direct participation programs (private placements) involving real estate investment trusts (REITS), oil and gas exploration programs, leasing equipment deals and receivable financing, promissory notes whether sold through a broker dealer or as part of the outside business activities of a registered representative, ponzi scheme losses, failure on the part of the broker dealer to perform due diligence, state securities law (blue sky) violations and failure to supervise.
If you have suffered investment losses please call The Law Office of David Liebrader at (702) 380-3131 for a free, confidential consultation