News Releases

A cryptocurrency mining company is promising to double investors’ money in one year while also claiming to contribute money to UNICEF to “fight COVID-19,” according to an emergency action the Texas State Securities Board took April 8. According to the Emergency Cease and Desist Order , Ultra BTC...

Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles took emergency action on April 3 to stop the offering of a purported foreign currency trader promising a “safe haven” investment in a time when world markets are roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Emergency Cease and Desist Order , Florida...

LendingClub Corp. , a national online lending marketplace, has been fined $400,000 for the unregistered sales of loans during an almost five-year period. Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles April 1 entered a Consent Order that reprimanded and fined LendingClub while also granting its...

The following are summaries of administrative enforcement actions the Texas State Securities Board took from Jan. 1 through March 31, 2020. Next Financial Group: Fine, Refunds Next Financial Group Inc. of Houston agreed to refund $500,000 to customers of a former Texas agent who for five years moved...

The COVID-19 pandemic has roiled securities markets in ways we have never experienced and is making financial decisions vastly more difficult than usual. We want to assure Texans that our primary focus remains on the protection of retail investors, and we are actively taking steps to protect the...

Amid the growing COVID-19 pandemic and careening markets in everything from stocks and bonds to oil, it can seem impossible to focus on the long view in investing. Impossible, even, to focus on anything but the next hour or next day. We don't know the future of the markets any more than the full...

Texas Securities Commissioner Travis J. Iles on Feb. 25 ordered Austin insurance agent Gary N. Beasley to stop offering promissory notes tied to a Philadelphia, Pa. company that has been sanctioned by two states and sued for predatory lending to small businesses. According to the Emergency Cease and...

Woodland Resources LLC , the oil and gas company once led by a Fort Worth oilman with a history of regulatory sanctions and running companies into bankruptcy, paid a $20,000 fine to the state and will offer to refund $1.49 million to investors in two of its drilling projects. Under the terms of an...

Brett Pittsenbargar, an Austin insurance agent who allegedly sold $9.3 million in fraudulent investments, was arrested Feb. 19 to face first-degree felony charges of securities fraud , money laundering , and theft . A Travis County grand jury's Feb. 4 indictment of Pittsenbargar was made public when...

Next Financial Group Inc. of Houston agreed to refund $500,000 to customers of a former Texas agent who for five years moved clients in and out of high-cost mutual funds to generate commissions. Next Financial Group also paid a $100,000 fine to the State of Texas for failing to properly supervise...