FINRA suspended former Red Ridge Securities CEO and Chief Compliance Officer Brent David Hurt for failing to supervise broker Eric William Johnson, whom FINRA barred for misappropriating over $1 million from at least six firm customers.
AWC #2015044172201 (Hurt)
AWC #2014042723401 (Johnson)
According to the findings, Hurt (CRD #1976536) failed to supervise Johnson (CRD #2142522) in connection with the sale of private offerings and caused the firm to maintain inaccurate books and records. FINRA identified Hurt as Johnson's direct supervisor at Red Ridge Securities, formerly known as HD Brent & Company, Inc.
The report states that Hurt, Johnson, and/or Red Ridge participated in three separate real estate development project offerings collectively called the "Great Exuma project," so named due to the real estate development's location on Great Exuma island in the Bahamas. The three private placements were comprised of debt and equity offerings, and granted Hurt, as project manager, broad discretion over the use of the funds in the construction project.
Hurt's BrokerCheck report indicates two employers in Great Exuma: Hooper's Bay Vista, Ltd., and Siegel, Raymond & Brent, Ltd. Prior to that, Hurt was associated with HDB Holdings, Inc. and Redridge Capital Advisors, LLC., both of Chicago, IL.
In Johnson's AWC, Enforcement wrote that Johnson misappropriated more than $1 million from at least six Red Ridge brokerage accounts, making at least 60 wire transfers out of the accounts to his own personal bank accounts.
Red Ridge's wire transfer forms required the signature of a firm principal (e.g., Hurt), and the Johnson AWC indicated that Johnson falsified, or caused to be falsified, the signatures of a firm principal, the firm's notary public, and applied a fake notarized seal, all of which were approved or should have been approved by supervisor Hurt, who FINRA claims failed to identify the inaccuracies in a case of significant supervisory failure.
FINRA furthermore cited Hurt and the firm's failure to maintain complete copies of 21 of the 60 subscription agreements executed by investors in the Great Exuma offerings. Investigators also sanctioned Hurt for failing to maintain complete or adequate records reflecting expenses, reimbursements, and other sales documentation relative to the project.
If you have invested with Brent David Hurt's Red Ridge Securities firm, with its former representative Eric William Johnson, or with any broker or financial adviser in a private placement and have suffered the theft of conversion or misappropriation of funds through bogus wire transfers or other unauthorized transactions effected through the use of fake, fabricated, or "missing" paperwork, please call The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.