Jefferson City, Mo. — Secretary of State Jason Kander today announced he has recovered $50,000 in restitution from a Michigan-based broker-dealer firm, Parkland Securities, LLC, formerly known as Sammons Securities Company, LLC. Kander’s office alleges Parkland failed to supervise an agent who sold unregistered promissory notes and conducted business outside the firm.
Jimmy Weishaar was employed by Parkland Securities as an agent, but was discharged in June 2012 for selling unregistered securities to investors without the knowledge or approval of his firm. The consent order alleges Weishaar solicited clients from Parkland Securities to purchase promissory notes from Professional Cleaning and Innovative Building Services, Inc. (PCI) that were not registered in Missouri. These six individuals, five Missourians and one Kansan, invested a total of $440,000 in the unregistered promissory notes and suffered significant losses due to PCI’s failure to repay some of the notes.
“Whether it’s an agent you’re familiar with or one you’re meeting for the first time, I encourage all Missourians to call my office to make sure both the product and the person offering it are registered,” Kander said. “These two simple checks are an important way to protect your hard-earned savings.”
The order alleges that at least one year prior to Weishaar’s termination from Parkland, one Missouri investor visited Weishaar’s branch office and made it known to a second Parkland Securities agent that he had loaned money to purchase a promissory note from PCI. In addition, two other Missouri investors withdrew funds from their individual retirement accounts to purchase promissory notes solicited by Weishaar.
At the time of the sales, Parkland Securities was responsible for supervising Weishaar’s transactions. The order alleges, however, that Parkland Securities did not have proper policies and procedures in place to supervise the sale of securities by their branch office agents.
According to the order, Parkland Securities is censured and will pay $50,000 in restitution. Parkland must also hire an outside consultant to review its supervision practices. Parkland neither admits nor denies the allegations in the settlement.
Prior to this action, four of the Missouri investors received in excess of $345,000 from Sammons and/or PCI through private litigation. This case was also investigated by the Kansas Securities Division.
For more information, Missourians can call the toll-free Investor Protection Hotline at (800) 721-7996 or visit www.MissouriSafeSavings.com.
