Indianapolis-based Steele Financial Inc. and the advisory firm's owner, Tamara Steele, have both been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) with failure to disclose sales commissions of up to 18% charged on approximately $13 million of high-risk securities sales.
Steele allegedly sold stock in a company called Behavioral Recognition Services (BRS) to roughly 120 clients, many of whom were her former colleagues in the field of education, teachers, or public school employees.
Steele, herself a former Indiana teacher, received a total of $2.5 million in cash and warrants from BRS as a commission without disclosing such arrangements to her relatively inexperienced clients.
The sales allegedly happened behind a curtain of false invoices and other steps meant to conceal involvement in selling BRS securities, a company that has been previously charged by the SEC with fraud.
Steele had reportedly invested heavily in BRS personally, and she had remained one of the primary stockholders in the company, which resulted in serious conflicts of interest that were not properly disclosed to her retail clients.
Filing with the federal district court in Indiana, the SEC has charged Steele and her firm with violating the anti-fraud and broker-dealer-registration provisions of the federal securities laws.
In its complaint, the SEC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with interest, penalties, and permanent injunctions.
The full SEC press release can be found here.
Disclosures of conflicts of interest, compensation arrangements and investment risks must be made prior to or contemporaneously with recommendations by advisers. Jacko Law Group's team of professionals can help you evaluate and author these investor disclosures. Failure to provide this material information can result in violations of the anti-fraud provisions, which must always be considered. For more information, please contact us at [email protected] or at (619) 298-2880.