by A former financial advisor from the Bay Area was charged with participating in a Ponzi scheme that was worth $9.5 million, according to a statement released by the United States Department of Justice on Monday.
Edwin Emmett Lickiss, Jr., who is 77 years old, was identified as the suspect by the Department of Justice (DOJ), which stated that he worked as a financial advisor from the year 1998 until September 2024.
The Department of Justice stated that Lickiss, who had dual residences in Alamo and Danville, was the proprietor of Foundation Financial Group. This organization offered its services in the Northern District of California, Idaho, and all over the United States.
As a registered broker, he was there. Additionally, according to the Department of Justice, his license was suspended by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in the year 2014, and he ultimately lost his license in the year 2016. However, the Department of Justice stated that he continued to solicit and accept investments.
According to the Department of Justice, he would allegedly tell investors that their money would be used for government bonds and that he would have exclusive access to bonds that had rates of return that were even higher than twenty percent. According to the Department of Justice, Lickiss is accused of fabricating the bonds so that he could claim that they were “safe, secure, and tax-free” and that they could be redeemed at any time as well.
According to the Department of Justice, Lickiss is accused of participating in a Ponzi scheme by providing fake promissory notes, making lulling payments to investors who were victims of the scheme, and failing to disclose that his broker’s license was suspended and that he eventually lost it.
The Department of Justice asserts that Lickiss used the money he obtained to pay earlier investors, pay for home renovations, travel, car payments, mortgage payments, and credit card payments, and pay for other expenses.
According to the Department of Justice, the indictment that was handed down by the grand jury was submitted on July 17 and was made public on Monday. Both one count of money laundering and one count of wire fraud have been brought against him. Tuesday is the day that he will make his initial court appearance in San Francisco.
According to the Department of Justice, the maximum sentence for the wire count charge is twenty years in prison and a fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, while the maximum sentence for the money laundering charge is ten years in prison and a fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
In addition, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission in the Northern District of California has filed a civil enforcement action against Lickiss.
