Fraud Busters
Posted on May 28, 2013 by bob in Financial
The Alabama Securities Commission (ASC) is a state government agency with a mission to protect Alabama investors from securities fraud and preserve legitimate capital markets in Alabama. The ASC is an unwavering advocate for Alabama’s “main street” investors. It doesn’t operate from tax payer funds. Instead, in Fiscal Year 2012 it delivered $12,689,077 to the state General Fund from revenues generated by the collection of licensing fees, settlements, and administrative, civil and criminal actions.
ASC has a staff of about 50 employees, including six attorneys, 12 special agents and 13 securities analysts. It’s able to act quickly and decisively to protect citizens from securities fraud and deceptive marketing practices.
Registration Division: Ensures proper licensing and registration of companies and individuals who offer securities and the products offered; financial planners or investment advisors providing fee-based financial planning from any location to Alabamians; and money transmitters conducting business in Alabama. In FY12 this division processed 143,493 registrations and exemptions.
Auditing and Examination Division: Responsible for conducting on-site routine and for-cause examinations. Every three years, auditors examine all state-regulated investment advisers domiciled in Alabama, and audit broker-dealers, their branch offices, and sale of checks agents on a for-cause basis. In FY12, this division conducted 51 audits, 13 being for-cause examinations driven by investigations, customer complaints or licensing issues.
Enforcement Division: Special agents/investigators have over 300 years of combined law enforcement experience to investigate suspicious, deceptive, unsuitable and/or illegal investment practices. During FY12, the division’s efforts resulted in $3,131,715 in victim restitution; 19 arrests; 24 convictions; and secured 125 years of prison time for con artists. Additionally, a large financial company settlement was completed last November returning over $14 million to 5,837 Alabama investors. The ASC has been recognized by national media as having one of the highest enforcement success rates in the nation.
Education and Public Affairs Division: Promotes safe and wise investor education programs as the first line of defense for Alabamians to protect themselves from financial exploitation. During FY12, the division provided 71 financial education, investor education, and fraud prevention outreach programs to 5,512 citizens in Alabama, including junior high school through college students, public and private school teachers, working adults and retired seniors. The division helped acquire over $30,000 in grant funds from the Investor Protection Trust in Washington, D.C. to support education events, provide teachers free “Basics of Saving and Investing” curriculum, produce brochures for adults from Kiplinger’s Personal Finance and more.
For more information about ASC statistics, program descriptions, enforcement actions, education programs, special area for military and more, visit www.asc.alabama.gov. Call the ASC at 1-800-222-1253 with inquiries concerning securities broker-dealers, agents, investment advisers, investment adviser representatives, financial planners, registration status of securities or debt management programs, to report suspected fraud or to obtain consumer information. The ASC provides free investor education and fraud prevention materials in print, on our website and through educational presentations upon request. Always check with the ASC BEFORE investing your hard earned money!
Joseph Borg, Executive Dir., AL Securities Commission
This article was funded by a generous grant from the Investor Protection Trust (www.investorprotection.org.
