FINRA fined and suspended former Hornor, Townsend & Kent (Layon, Utah) and MML Investors Services (Centerville, UT) broker Micah Wesley Patterson for participating in an undisclosed and unapproved private securities transaction by soliciting investment in Future Income Payments, LLC (FIP), an allegedly fraudulent Ponzi scheme targeting pensioners, retired, and elderly investors.
In AWC #2019062875201, FINRA wrote that Micah Patterson (CRD #5562392) solicited an investor to purchase FIP securities without disclosing those transactions to MML and Horner, Townsend & Kent, and without seeking the firms' approval.
Future Income Payments (FIP) represented itself as a structured cash flow investment, claiming to purchase pensions at a discount and selling a portion as an income stream with a guaranteed 7% to 8% rate of return.
A federal grand jury subsequently indicted FIP owner Scott Kohn (Newport Coast, California) with conspiracy to engage in mail and wire fraud, and FIP itself was declared by authorities to be fraudulent as it allegedly used money from newer investors in order to pay earlier investors.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's 2018 suit filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California against Irvine-based FIP and Kohn named the following related entities as additional defendants: BuySellAnnuity Inc.; Cash Flow Investment Partners LLC; Pension Advance LLC; Cash Flow Investment Partners East, LLC; Cash Flow Investment Partners MidEast LLC; Lumpsum Pension Advance Atlantic LLC; Lumpsum Pension Advance Southeast LLC; Lumpsum Settlement West LLC; PAS California, LLC; PAS Great Lakes, LLC; PAS Northeast LLC; PAS Southwest LLC; Pension Advance Carolinas LLC; Pension Advance Midwest LLC; and Pension Loans South LLC.
If you invested with Hornor and MML ex-broker Micah Patterson or with any investment adviser or representative who solicited investments in the fraudulent Future Income Payments (FIP) structured cash flow scheme, and subsequently lost money or never received the guaranteed and promised returns on investment, please call an experienced FINRA arbitration attorney at The Law Offices of Jonathan W. Evans & Associates at (800) 699-1881 for an investigation and consultation.