On Friday, September 14, 2018 the Securities and Exchange Commission charged an Indianapolis-based investment advisory firm and its sole owner (Tamara Steele and Steele Financial, Inc.) with selling approximately $13 million of high-risk securities to more than 120 advisory clients – many of whom are current or former teachers or other workers in public education – without disclosing that the firm and its owner stood to receive commissions of up to 18 percent from the sales.
Our firm is representing many of Tammie Steele’s and her brokerage firm’s investors, and are urging her BRS investors to contact us to describe their experiences.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that from December 2012 to October 2016, Steele Financial Inc. and Tamara Steele sold to advisory clients and other investors more than $15 million of the securities of Behavioral Recognition Systems Inc. (BRS), a private company previously charged with fraud by the SEC. All told, Steele and Steele Financial received commissions of cash and warrants from BRS that were worth more than $2.5 million. Steele and Steele Financial allegedly targeted their own advisory clients who generally did not invest in individual stocks, selling more than 120 clients approximately $13 million of BRS securities without disclosing that the defendants were receiving commissions from BRS. The complaint further alleges that the defendants created false invoices and took other steps to conceal their involvement selling BRS securities.
“We allege that Steele took advantage of her own advisory clients, including clients whom she herself described as ‘two-pension, two Social Security families,’” said Antonia Chion, Associate Director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement. “Investment advisers must put their clients’ interests ahead of their own and make full and fair disclosure of financial conflicts of interest.”
The SEC’s complaint, filed in federal district court in Indiana, charges the defendants with violating the antifraud and broker-dealer registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC is seeking disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with interest, penalties, and permanent injunctions.
If Tammie Steele was your financial advisor and had you invested in BRS Labs promissory notes or other BRS securities, you may have a potential claim. We are investigating claims by investors for unsuitable investing in BRS and Tammie Steele not properly disclosing the very high risks associated with this investment.
Here is an article relating to this post: https://www.ibj.com/articles/70514-sec-charges-local-investment-adviser-a-former-math-teacher-with-fraud
If you are an individual or institutional investor who has any concerns about the losses experienced in BRS Labs promissory notes or other BRS securities, please contact us for a no-cost and no-obligation evaluation of your specific facts and circumstances. You may have a viable claim for recovery of your investment losses by filing a securities arbitration case with FINRA.