Earlier this month, a federal jury in Virginia convicted a Florida banker and Virginia attorney of running a fraud scheme that swindled more than 300 victims, most of them seniors, out of more than $25 million.[1]
Following a month-long trial, the jury found Daryl Bank of Florida and Billy Seabolt of Lynchburg, Virginia guilty of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy in a scheme that convinced investors to pump money into companies owned and controlled by Bank.
Bank is the former managing partner of Dominion Investment Group, a financial services organization he created that was initially headquartered in Virginia Beach and later moved to Florida.[2] Bank wrote a book titled “Successonomics”[3] and hosted a nationally syndicated radio show called “Getting Your Financial House in Order.”[4]
Bank had been barred from the securities industry by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority in 2010.[5] Despite this, Bank was still able to create a private equity company, Dominion Private Client Group, and sold unregistered securities.
Not to be outdone, Billy Seabolt was an actual attorney. Seabolt was the principal of a law firm called Family Wealth Law Group, PC where he served as Dominion’s legal counsel. Seabolt’s role in the fraud was to create fake companies for Bank’s clients to invest in.[6]
Sadly, this has become all too common in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The existing protections for seniors against investment fraud are limited to non-existent and often lack enforcement. Perhaps the most egregious fact of the Bank/Seabolt fraud is that Bank was able to create a private equity company despite being barred by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority for over a decade.
The bottom line – be skeptical when someone you do not know tries to sell you an investment opportunity that sounds too good to be true. It usually is.
[1] Bolado, Carolina. Fla. Investment Adviser, Va. Atty Convicted of $25M Scheme. Law360. May 3, 2021. Available at https://www.law360.com/articles/1380672/fla-investment-adviser-va-atty-convicted-of-25m-scheme.
[2] Harper, Jane. Former Virginia Beach investment executive found guilty on 27 counts in federal fraud trial. The Virginian-Pilot. Apr. 20, 2021. Available at https://www.pilotonline.com/news/crime/vp-nw-bank-verdict-20210430-mbvaujxiv5av5kihaelmbaslbi-story.html.
[3] In addition to being a made-up word, “Successonomics” was less than enthusiastically received. A May 24, 2019 review posted on Amazon.com, that was accessible as of the date of the publication of this blog, stated the book had “[n]othing to do with economics at all. Poor advice from a bunch of clueless money managers.” Ouch.
[4] Note. 2.
[5] Jury Convicts Former Virginia Beach Investment Advisor and Williamsburg Attorney of $25 Million Nationwide Investment Fraud. U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Press Release. Apr. 30, 2021. Available at https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/jury-convicts-former-virginia-beach-investment-advisor-and-williamsburg-attorney-25.
[6] Note 1.