Anastasios “Tommy” Belesis, who was barred Thursday from the brokerage business by the SEC on negligence charges, is still on the hot seat with Finra.
The storied chief executive of the now-defunct Wall Street brokerage John Thomas Financial Inc. continues to face an open Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. fraud complaint that he bullied brokers, lied to senior staff and intimidated colleagues in his pursuit of penny stock riches. Mr. Belesis is no longer registered as a broker with Finra.
“Finra's action is ongoing,” said spokeswoman Michelle Ong, adding that the regulator's complaint against him is unchanged by the SEC's cease-and-desist order barring Mr. Belesis from conducting securities business.
The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday charged the high-profile chief executive, noted for his appearances on Fox Business News and a bit part in film director Oliver Stone's sequel to the movie “Wall Street,” with negligent activity.
The SEC said that Mr. Belesis' firm placed customers in two John Thomas Financial hedge funds while the funds' adviser and manager fraudulently elevated the firm's interests over those of the funds. In addition, the SEC charged him with influencing the funds' manager and adviser, forcing them to breach their fiduciary duty.
The manager “kept an appreciative Belesis apprised of his efforts” to negotiate fees for the firm, thus depriving the funds "of a material amount of money that went instead to placement fees, loans to small companies that then used the money to pay fees to JTF and for unearned bridge loan fees JTF received for performing little or no services,” the SEC said in its order.
“For example, the manager giddily wrote to Belesis in March 2010: 'We are all going to make so much f---ing money this year, the clients of John Thomas are going to have a banner year … Write yourself a check and get ready to cash it for $45 million,'” the SEC order said.
Mr. Belesis' lawyer, Ira Sorkin, on Thursday said that his client neither admitted nor denied the SEC allegations.
“There is no reference in the order that he engaged in fraudulent conduct. The fraudulent behavior was attributed to the manager of the fund, who was not named,” Mr. Sorkin said.
The Finra complaint filed in April against John Thomas Financial alleged that Mr. Belesis bullied brokers and lied to senior staff as part of a fraudulent plan to profit from a penny stock.
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