A former Texas financial advisor pleaded guilty to multiple charges in connection with a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors, according to Financial Advisor.
Prosecutors said 46-year-old Brooklynn Chandler Willy of San Antonio pitched victims on a series of bogus investment opportunities, using the money she collected for personal expenses and to repay earlier investors.
Willy, the owner of Queen B Advisors (doing business as Texas Financial Advisor), was also a personality on KTSA radio and hosted the Texas Financial Advisory Show podcast on iHeart Media;
She pleaded guilty in federal court to ten charges, including six counts of wire fraud, one count of wire fraud conspiracy, one count of money laundering conspiracy, one count of engaging in monetary transactions associated with the scheme, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
Authorities said Willy recommended in 2018 that a married couple invest money into an investment company named Ferrum Capital, one of four investment companies allegedly run by co-defendants Joshua Allen and Michael Cox.
In May of 2021, Willy again advised the couple to invest $500,000 with another Ferrum entity, using Chandler Capital Holdings as the agent to execute and deliver contracts. Rather than investing the funds as intended, it was determined that Willy used the $500,000 for her own purposes, including personal credit card payments, payments to other investors, and payments to another business owned and controlled by Willy.
She also convinced a separate married couple to invest approximately $2 million in an associate’s company by promising that the investment would be used for the purchase of bad debt and other legitimate investments. Instead she used the money for her own benefit, such as payments to herself, payments to her associate, and payments to other investors.
Willy also convinced two other investors to invest $75,000 and $600,000 respectively into what Willy claimed were legitimate business investments, but actually used their investments for her own benefit. Investigators said Willy forged the signatures of various victims on documents and provided those documents to federal agents for the purpose of misleading those agents.
Willy, Allen and Cox solicited funds for Ferrum Capital and other investment companies. Monies for Ferrum III, for example, were supposedly to be used to purchase life insurance settlements, and Ferrum IV monies would be used partly to pay the premiums.
“Allen, Cox, Willy and others acting at their direction, solicited victims to invest in these entities,” said the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Texas. “The indictment alleges that Allen, Cox and Willy misled the victims concerning the security of the investments and concealed their high commissions. Additionally, Allen and Cox allegedly lied about the nature of the investments. Hundreds of victims collectively lost millions of dollars. Much of that money went to pay earlier investor-victims, thereby concealing the scheme and attracting additional victims. Much of the money also directly benefited the now indicted co-conspirators and their associates.”
Court documents stated that the three told investors that their money was “safe, secure and collateralized,” but instead mainly went to the benefit of the three defendants, who prosecutors said collectively made millions off the investors’ funds.
Willy will be sentenced in September. She faces up to 20 years in prison on each of the six wire fraud charges, on the one wire fraud conspiracy charge, and on the one money laundering conspiracy charge. She also faces up to 10 years for engaging in monetary transactions in property derived from the wire fraud scheme and a mandatory minimum of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft, which, by statute, would run consecutive to any other punishment.
Hyman Cotter routinely represents investors harmed when financial professionals and their firms engaged in misconduct that caused their clients investment losses. Our team includes lawyers who have worked for large financial institutions, including Morgan Stanley and UBS Financial Services, and regulatory bodies such as the SEC. If you think your financial professional or firm engaged in misconduct that caused you investment losses, contact Hyman Cotter at (833) 665-0784 or through our online contact form for a no-cost evaluation of your matter.
