Daughter of Imprisoned Former Securities America Broker Pleads Guilty to Federal Charges
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York reported that Vania May Bell, the former comptroller and chief compliance officer of Executive Compensation Planners.
The United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York reported that Vania May Bell, the former comptroller and chief compliance officer of Executive Compensation Planners Inc., a registered investment adviser and financial planning firm, pled guilty to participating in a conspiracy with her father, Hector May, the firm’s former president.
Hector May, a former Securities America broker who spent 23 years at the firm before being discharged, was sentenced to 13 years in prison for running a Ponzi scheme that defrauded his investment advisory clients out of more than $11 million. He was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, pay $8 million in restitution, and forfeit nearly $11.5 million.
May was barred in February 2019 by the SEC, which later ordered Securities America Advisors, the RIA arm of broker-dealer Securities America Inc., to pay a $1.8 million civil penalty for failing to detect and prevent the theft, despite “multiple alerts” and “red flags.”
“As Vania May Bell admitted, for years, she and her father, Hector May, violated the trust of ECP’s clients by taking their money intended for investments and instead spending it for personal and business expenses as part of an illegal Ponzi scheme,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. “In total, Bell and May stole more than $11 million from over 15 victims that included a pension plan, and vulnerable and elderly individuals. Now, she has confessed to her crime and faces significant time in prison.”
The father-daughter duo perpetrated a Ponzi scheme in which May advised his clients to transfer money from their Securities America accounts to supposedly purchase bonds through his firm on their behalf and avoid transaction fees.
May and Bell also created phony “consolidated” account statements that they issued and sent to the victims. To keep track of the money that they were stealing, Bell processed the payments for the purported bonds, entered them in a computerized accounting program, and kept track of how they received and spent the stolen money. From the late 1990’s through March 2018, the pair had clients forward them more than $11.4 million.
As the fake bond purchases multiplied, these account statements inflated the victims’ holdings. For example, an account statement for one client couple, listed a total portfolio value of more than $8.6 million, although the couple had less than $51,000 in assets.
Over the life of the scheme, the money was used to pay salaries, business and personal credit card bills, a limousine driver, country club dues, home remodeling, travel, personal loans to friends, political contributions, a vacation home, and furs and jewelry for his wife.
Bell pled guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Sentencing is scheduled for July 7, 2022.
