A Mesa businessman, Richard A. Smart, and his affiliated companies have been ordered by the Arizona Corporation Commission to pay $45,000 in restitution for committing securities fraud in connection with a real estate investment.
Smart is also ordered to pay a $15,000 administrative penalty.
According to the Commission, Smart was the managing member of three companies: Smart Acquisitions, LLC, Smart Enterprises, LLC and Simply Smart Homes, LLC. However, Smart and his companies were not registered to sell securities in Arizona. The Commission found that Smart and Smart Acquisitions, LLC were raising investment capital to “fix and flip” residential property in Tucson, Arizona.
This is the second time the Corporation Commission has taken legal action against Smart and his affiliated companies. In 2017, Smart and Simply Smart Homes, LLC were ordered to pay restitution and penalties for fraudulently offering and selling unregistered securities involving real estate investments.
The Corporation Commission found that despite its previous administrative order, Smart and Smart Acquisitions induced two Arizona residents to collectively invest in the fix and flip investment property in Tucson. The Commission found Smart and Smart Acquisitions, LLC misused a significant portion of the investor funds on personal expenses not related to the investment.
The Commission also found that Smart failed to tell the two investors about the Commission’s prior order and that there were at least six judgments entered against him in the state of Utah for unpaid state income tax liens.