$5.15 Million Available to Investors in Securities Fraud Case
January 15, 2010
The North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA) said today that state securities regulators are seeking as many as 27,000 investors who may be eligible to participate in a multi-million dollar distribution plan approved by the New Jersey Superior Court as part of a securities fraud case.
“This case demonstrates the perseverance typical of state securities regulators to provide real results for investors,” said NASAA President and Texas Securities Commissioner Denise Voigt Crawford.
The distribution plan provides $5.15 million to investors who were defrauded by Robert Brennan, and marks a significant milestone in a case the New Jersey Bureau of Securities began in 1995. New Jersey securities regulators in August 1995 filed suit against Brennan and L.C. Wegard, an investment firm Brennan controlled, and other defendants, alleging violations of the New Jersey Securities Law and the New Jersey Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.
Brennan that same month filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. In June 1999, the Bureau obtained a $45 million non-dischargeable judgment against Brennan and L.C. Wegard, which had offices in a number of states including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island and Illinois.
An effort to find assets to satisfy the judgment began in 1999 after Brennan claimed he did not have assets. Ultimately, Bureau investigators tracked down and seized assets that Brennan had attempted to hide, including a pension fund that he had set up for himself.
“The Bureau of Securities is working with the receiver and other securities industry regulators in the massive undertaking to inform the estimated 27,000 affected investors of this distribution plan,” said Marc B. Minor, head of the Bureau. “We want to get as much of the recovered funds as possible into the hands of these long-suffering investors.”
