William Andrew Smith and Christopher Spence Cox and their Oro Valley investment advisory firm, Smith & Cox, LLC, have been ordered to pay millions of dollars in restitution to the victims of their veterans’ income stream scam, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission.
The Commission also found that Mark Corbet of California participated in the scam because he solicited the veterans to sell their monthly pension and disability payments.
The Commission found that Smith and Smith & Cox, LLC sold 53 unregistered income stream investments that were based on the monthly payments veterans receive for their pension or disability benefits.
According to the Commission, Smith and Smith & Cox, LLC committed securities fraud and investment advisory fraud by touting the income stream investments to their clients as safe and secure while failing to disclose the risk that federal law may prohibit the sale of veterans’ pension and disability payments, failing to disclose eight cease and desist orders by other states against the promoter of these investments and failing to disclose an Internal Revenue Service lien against Smith for unpaid taxes from 2007 and 2008.
The Commission revoked Smith’s and Smith & Cox, LLC’s investment advisory licenses and ordered them to also pay $252,000 in administrative penalties.
The Commission found that Cox is a control person of Smith & Cox, LLC and ordered that Cox be jointly and severally liable to pay $2,574,103 in restitution for his firm’s securities fraud violations. The Commission also ordered Cox to pay $105,000 in administrative penalties. Corbett is held to be jointly and severally liable to pay $2,284,660 of the restitution ordered against Smith, Cox and Smith & Cox, LLC and to pay $105,000 in administrative penalties.