 UNITED
STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C.
LITIGATION RELEASE NO.16796 \ November 8, 2000
UNITED
STATES v. STEVEN C. ROBERTS
U.S. District Court for the Southern District
of Texas Case No 4:00-CR-140
On
October 30, 2000, a judgment of conviction was
entered against Steven C. Roberts. Based on Roberts'
guilty plea to 7 counts of mail fraud, Judge David
Hittner sentenced Roberts to 7 concurrent terms
of 27 months imprisonment, ordered Roberts to
make restitution of $3,373,000, imposed a 3 year
special parole term at the end of Roberts' term
of imprisonment and added a $100 special assessment.
Roberts was one of the masterminds of a $15 million
"prime bank" scheme that preyed on unsophisticated
investors in Texas and elsewhere. Roberts and
his co-conspirators, including Robert Cord, alias
Robert F. Schoonover, Jr. (who earlier was sentenced
to 60 months imprisonment and a $25,000 fine:
4:98-CR-101 in S.D. Tex.), promised investors
returns of up to 30% per month purportedly guaranteed
either by a major European bank or by a Caribbean-based
insurer. Because there was no real investment,
some investors received partial, "Ponzi"
payments, and others received nothing. Much of
the monies taken in by Roberts, Cord and the others
were used to purchase or improve house, acquire
automobiles and watercraft and support lavish
life styles.
On
November 13, 1998, in the United States District
Court for the Northern District of Texas at Dallas
the SEC obtained a temporary restraining order
against Roberts, Cord and the others' fraudulent
activities and obtained an asset freeze and the
appointment of a receiver for those assets (SEC
v. Funding Resource Group, Case No. 4:98-CA-2689).
After a November 30, 1998 hearing, Judge Joe Kendall
transformed the temporary restraining order into
a preliminary injunction. Information derived
from the TSSB and SEC investigations was used
by the FBI and the United States Attorney to develop
the case against Roberts. That investigation continues.
from:
http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/lr16796.htm
|
