• December 15, 2019
• Securities America

Ronald Roach (CRD # 3216784) was a former Financial Advisor at Securities America in Walnut Creek, California. Ronald Roach has been in the securities industry since 1999 and previously worked at Brecek & Young Advisors.

According to publicly available records released by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), on October 23, 2019, Securities America terminated Ronald Roach after he “pled guilty to two felonies including one count of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and one count of securities fraud.”

Following his termination, on November 27, 2019, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) barred him from the securities industry, “permanently enjoining him from future violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”), and Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, in the Civil Action Number 2:19-cv-02140, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. On October 22, 2019, Roach pled guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and to violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, in Crim. Information No. 2:19- cr-00182.”

According to the SEC, Ronald Roach was operating a ponzi scheme. “This case involves fraudulent securities offerings and a massive Ponzi scheme that raked in over $910 million in investor funds. This Ponzi scheme was orchestrated by Individual 1 and Individual 2 through companies they controlled, and which they used to enrich themselves at investors’ expense. The Defendants in this action, Joseph Bayliss and Ronald Roach, each played an important role in this scheme to sell investment opportunities offered by certain solar energy companies in the business of making, leasing, and operating mobile solar generators — investments that were touted as presenting gains in the form of tax benefits, guaranteed lease payments, and the resulting profits from the operation of the Generators. In reality, thousands of the purportedly profitable Generators were never even manufactured, let alone put into use, and the vast majority of revenue to investors came from investor money, not from actual lease payments. Roach compiled financial statements, prepared by management, falsely reporting that the business had real and significant revenue from real leases, lent the imprimatur of his accounting firm to the bogus financials, and in some cases disseminated them directly to investors. While investors were fleeced, Bayliss and Roach each made millions off the scheme. Individual 1 and Individual 2 began selling investment contracts through their privately-held alternative energy companies, Company Sand Company D (collectively with Individuals 1 and 2 “the Company”). Investors purchased Generators from Company S and then immediately leased them to Company D. Company D was then supposed to sub-lease the Generators to end-users. Investors paid hundreds of millions of dollars for Generators that never existed and, legitimate lease income from actual end users of the Generators represented a tiny fraction — less than 5% — of Company D’s revenue. The vast majority of Company D’s revenue was comprised of investor funds transferred from Company S. In reality, the vast majority of investor funds was not being used to manufacture, place into service, and maintain the thousands of Generators that the Company was using as the basis for investment contracts, but was instead being pilfered by Individuals 1 and 2 for their personal benefit, such as the purchase of luxury vehicles and real estate, and used to make lease payments and distributions to earlier investors.”

For a copy of Ronald Roach’s CRD, click https://brokercheck.finra.org/individual/summary/3216784#disclosuresSection.

Financial advisors have a legal and regulatory obligation to recommend only suitable investments that are appropriate for their clients’ needs and objectives. Their employing brokerage firm has a legal and regulatory obligation to supervise the Financial Advisors’ sales practices and dealings with clients. To the extent any of these duties are breached, the customer may be entitled to a recovery of his or her investment losses.

The Wolper Law Firm, P.A. represents investors nationwide in securities litigation and arbitration on a contingency fee basis. Matt Wolper, the Managing Principal of the Wolper Law Firm, P.A., is a trial lawyer who has handled hundreds of securities cases during his career involving a wide range of products, strategies and securities. Prior to representing investors, he was a partner with a national law firm, where he represented some of the largest banks and brokerage firms in the world in securities matters. We can be reached at 800.931.8452 or by email at mwolper@wolperlawfirm.com.