The law firm of Oakes & Fosher is presently investigating the alleged misconduct of former securities broker Lester Burroughs. Lester Burroughs was a Connecticut based securities broker. He worked in the securities industry for thirty-three years. During his career, he was registered with seven different securities firms. He is no longer working as a registered securities broker in any fashion.
His Registrations
- Pruco Securities (1985-1996)
- Main Street Management Company (1995-1996)
- Tower Square Securities (1996-2002)
- Woodbury Financial Services (2002-2009)
- Brookstone Securities (2009-2012)
- Crown Capital Securities (2012)
- Lincoln Investment (2012-2019)
The Allegations
According to findings released by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Lester Burroughs perpetrated a seven year long scheme meant to defraud his investment customers. According to the findings, Burroughs misappropriated funds from at least five clients in a Ponzi-like manner by paying back some customers with funds solicited from other customers. While two of the investors had most of their principal returned, three of the customers allegedly had a total of $575,000 stolen from them by Lester Burroughs. In order to keep his scheme going, Burroughs allegedly provided these customers with false statements claiming that the funds were being used to purchase legitimate investments. Due to these allegations, Lester Burroughs was terminated from his position at Lincoln Investment Planning and was barred by the SEC from acting as a securities broker in any fashion. On December 4th 2019, Lester Burroughs pled guilty to one count of wire fraud. All of this information was taken directly from Lester Burroughs’ publicly available FINRA BrokerCheck report.
What Does This Mean?
Ponzi schemes are a very complicated investment scheme that most casual investors do not know how to watch out for. It centers around the broker, or group of brokers, soliciting funds from investors under false pretenses. The broker usually provides the investor(s) with a detailed plan of the legitimate equities they plan to invest the funds in. Once the broker(s) received the solicited capital, the funds are usually diverted elsewhere as opposed to invested as the investors had been told it would. The broker will then usually provide the investors with falsified information about how their investment is succeeding. However, since no growth is actually taking place, the broker(s) need funds to either pay investor distributions or provide redemptions when requested. These funds usually come in the form of money solicited from later rounds of investors. This process continues until such point that the entire scheme collapses–as it did for Lester Burroughs.
Oakes & Fosher Can Help
Many investors are unaware of the legal recourse available to them after losing money due to securities broker fraud and/or negligence. The truth is that investors who have lost money in this fashion may actually be entitled to damages.
Oakes & Fosher dedicates its entire legal practice to helping investors across the nation. If you, or someone you know, have lost money investing with Lester Burroughs, please contact Oakes & Fosher for a free and private consultation. We work on a contingency basis, which means there are no fees charged unless we collect fro you.
