News Releases

Securities Commissioner Benette L. Zivley announced today that Raymond James Financial Services Inc. and Raymond James & Associates Inc. will pay a $293,595 fine to the State of Texas to settle claims the companies failed to disclose the risks of auction rate securities. As a result of the...

As hurricane season begins, the Texas State Securities Board urges Texans to take steps now to protect their household finances in the event of a disaster. "It's important to organize and protect your financial records under ordinary circumstances, but Texans living along the Gulf Coast and other...

A Limestone County jury today sentenced Reginald Lee Clark to 25 years in state prison after convicting him of stealing more than $400,000 from clients of his investment advisory business. The 12-member jury convicted Clark on a charge of theft on May 25. Clark was not registered to sell securities...

Securities Commissioner Benette L. Zivley on May 13, 2011, entered an Emergency Cease and Desist Order against a North Texas company and its affiliate, alleging the fraudulent sale and marketing of oil and gas interests to teachers and other school district employees. Insignia Energy Group Inc. and...

The court-appointed receiver in control of Retirement Value LLC, a New Braunfels life-settlement investment company shut down after an investigation by state regulators, will recommend that investors in the company receive $7.7 million in initial payments later this year. The distribution would...

Chad Michael Hays of McKinney, who was convicted of fraud and 16 other charges in connection with the sale of nearly $400,000 in fraudulent oil and gas investments, was sentenced to 25 years in state prison on April 25 in Hunt County state district court. A Hunt County jury last week convicted Hays...

State securities regulators throughout the United States are marking the 100th anniversary of the nation's first state securities law, which went into effect in Kansas on March 10, 1911. Texas enacted its first securities statute in 1913. "For 100 years, state securities regulators have served on...

Benette L. Zivley was sworn in today as the sixth Securities Commissioner in Texas history and pledged to build upon the Texas State Securities Board's 53-year record of vigilant oversight of the securities industry. "We have an awesome responsibility - to protect Texas investors - and we have had...

The Texas State Securities Board today unanimously voted to appoint Benette L. Zivley as the next Texas Securities Commissioner. Zivley, currently the Director of the Inspections & Compliance Division of the Securities Board, will assume his new duties on March 1. Zivley becomes the sixth Securities...

Four principals of Aspen Exploration Inc., the Dallas-based company that sold interests in fraudulent oil-and-gas programs to investors across the United States, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Dallas. William Anthony "Tony"Rand, 69 years old, of Plano, and his two sons, Gregory Keith...