A Peoria man, Jad Morris, and his affiliated companies has been ordered by the Arizona Corporation Commission to pay $4,679,122 in restitution and a $200,000 administrative penalty for committing securities fraud in connection with various unregistered investments, including a call center and managed trading accounts.
The Corporation Commission found respondents Morris and his affiliated companies — Financial Leverage LLC, IQBiz Financial LLC, and IQBiz Funding, LLC—sold unregistered investment contracts to approximately 400 investors.
The Commission found that, through an online credit platform that Morris was licensed to promote, Morris gained a list of people seeking credit and used this knowledge to reach out to clients in order to invest with him and his companies. Morris convinced some of the investors to use credit cards and take out loans in order to invest, falsely telling investors they would not be liable for any business credit card debt or loans.
The Commission found Morris failed to disclose to investors his previous securities violations in Wisconsin as well as more than $180,000 in judgments and tax liens against him. Also, the Commission found Morris and his companies sold managed trading accounts to investors, promising to earn an investment return by trading on behalf of the investor. However, most of the investors did not get any of their money back.
The Commission found Morris used the majority of the investors’ funds for his personal use, which was not authorized by investors. Prior to entry of the consent order, the Commission obtained an order from the Maricopa County Superior Court freezing the remaining proceeds from the sale of Morris’s home, which was acquired mostly with investor funds. As part of the consent order, those proceeds ($372,000) will be paid to the Commission to distribute pro-rata among the investors.
According to the Commission, in settling this matter, Morris neither admitted nor denied the Commission’s findings and agreed to the entry of the consent order.