Securities Lawyers Blog
The securities attorneys of Gana Weinstein LLP are investigating potential recovery options for investors of Christopher Brogdon’s (Brogdon) nursing home investment scheme who suffered losses as a result of the fraud. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against Brogdon and affiliated entities alleging that Brogdon amassed nearly $190 million through dozens of municipal bond and private placement offerings to investors who would earn interest from revenues generated by nursing homes, assisted living facilities, or other retirement community projects. Instead, the SEC found that Brogdon secretly commingled investor funds in typical Ponzi scheme like fashion and diverted investor money to other business ventures and personal expenses.
Investors should be asking how Brogdon could have possibly been allowed to conduct this scheme. The Federal Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has noted in a related action (FINRA No. 2013035130101) against brokerage firm Cantone Research and its majority owner Anthony Cantone that Brogdon had twice been barred from the securities industry. FINRA describes the two Brogdon actions – once for “egregious misconduct” involving unauthorized transactions and the second for a “scheme” involving financial misconduct. In addition, Brogdon had also been indicted for racketeering, theft, and Medicaid fraud, and had been found liable for breaching a stock repurchase guarantee agreement. Furthermore several entities Brogdon controlled had filed for bankruptcy.
These complaints against Brogdon enablers like Cantone are just starting to be filed. The Bank of Oklahoma Financial has also been alleged to be the trustee for many of the Brogdon deals and faces investor scrutiny. The bank has filed its own suit against Brogdon.