A former U.S. financial advisor is going to jail for defrauding investors in a long-running Ponzi scheme.
In 2024, a former rep, Edwin Emmett Lickiss, Jr., pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with a Ponzi scheme that ran for more than 25 years, from 1998 through 2024, defrauding investors of millions of dollars.
In a parallel case, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also charged Lickiss Jr. with allegedly breaching securities rules in a scheme that, it said, took in US$12.7 million through the sale of fraudulent promissory notes.
In its complaint, filed in the northern district of California, the regulator alleged that Lickiss promised to invest clients’ money in high-return bonds that would generate annual returns of up to 30%.
However, the bonds didn’t exist, and investors’ money was used to either pay returns to earlier investors or misappropriated for personal expenses, it alleged.
The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement and civil penalties.
In the meantime, a federal judge has now sentenced Lickiss to nine years in federal prison.