HOUSTON, March 28, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lawyers with Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas, LLP (SSEK Law Firm) are investigating claims involving Hector A. May, a former broker with Securities America and president of now-defunct Executive Compensation Planners, Inc. Over the past year, May has been the subject of multiple investigations by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of NY (SDNY), U.S. Postal Investigative Service, FBI, U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), and Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) for allegations of operating a Ponzi scheme that bilked clients out of millions of dollars over a 20 year period. Regulators and state authorities state that May, along with his daughter, Vania May Bell, made payments to investors with other investor money and issued false account statements to conceal their fraudulent activities. The former clients who allege their complaints “exposed the fraud” filed a lawsuit on February 26, 2019 against May and Securities America for $18 million claiming “fraud, concealment, breach of fiduciary duties, negligence, unjust enrichment”, and failure to supervise.
May is now a convicted felon, having pled guilty on December 13, 2018 to charges filed by the SDNY of investment fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. According to Geoffrey Berman, U.S. Attorney for the SDNY, May abused “clients’ trust by siphoning money from their accounts to line their [May’s and Bell’s] pockets and continue to perpetrate their illegal scheme.” Marc Berger, the SEC’s NY regional director, stated “This father-daughter team betrayed the very people who knew and trusted them – including family members, close friends, seniors and local community members.” May is facing up to 25 years in prison, has been permanently barred from the securities industry and penny stock trading by the SEC and FINRA, and has been ordered to forfeit $11,452,185 in ill-gotten gains.
If you were a client of Hector A. May or any of his financial entities, please contact the law firm of Shepherd, Smith, Edwards & Kantas, LLP today for a free, confidential evaluation of your accounts and to discuss your options for recovery. We have a team of attorneys, consultants, and staff with over 100 years of combined experience in the securities industry and in securities law that are ready to assist you in recovering your investment losses today.