Who could have seen this coming, besides everyone?
Anastasios “Tommy” Belesis, founder of John Thomas Financial Inc., and Houston radio host George Jarkesy defrauded investors in two hedge funds, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said. The two men, both 38, told investors the funds were independent from the brokerage then steered excessive fees to Belesis’s New York-based firm, the SEC said today in a statement. The regulator said it started administrative proceedings against Belesis, Jarkesy, who managed the funds, and their firms. They could face punishments including disgorgement and financial penalties, the SEC said. Belesis worked with Jarkesy to raise two funds in 2007 and 2009, which peaked at $30 million under management, telling investors they would invest in microcap stocks, bridge loans and life-insurance policies, the SEC said. Jarkesy inflated the value of investments in disclosures and hired stock promoters to boost the price of shares, while Belesis and John Thomas Financial “willfully aided, abetted and caused” the hedge funds’ violations, according to the regulator.
Bloomberg News reported on Feb. 25 that Belesis, who founded John Thomas in 2007, has raised millions of dollars for companies with about 200 brokers in a boiler room across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, where trainees stand as long as 14 hours a day barking memorized sales pitches for as little as $300 a week. The bald, muscular executive has built a public persona with appearances on business television, endorsements from celebrities and a role in the movie “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” The SEC said in today’s complaint that Belesis repeatedly pushed Jarkesy for more fees, in a “profane and belligerent manner,” and tried to make the funds invest in companies his firm had interests in. On one occasion cited by the SEC, after Belesis yelled at the fund manager, Jarkesy tried to reassure him by saying in an e-mail: “We will always try to get you as much as possible, Everytime without exception!”
John Thomas’s Belesis Aided Hedge-Fund Fraud, SEC Says [Bloomberg]
SEC Charges Hedge Fund Manager and Brokerage CEO with Fraud [SEC]
Related: “Brokers who show up with stubble are sent to the bathroom, where a bow-tied attendant dispenses razors, cologne and candy.”
He's hot
Well at least he's got all that 300 money to fall back on http://themovieblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/0…
What happened to the bookie that used to do guest posts? I liked his stuff.
he's doing 2-4 on tax evasion
Who is CNBC going to get for thier 10-10:15 Wednesday AM spot now?
I stopped at "Anastasios", knew the whole story at that point.
Motives
Looks like the white-collar Mr. Clean
Note to self: Anyone who has a picture
A) in front of the Wall Street Bull
B) with Warren Buffet
C) with a lady just hired from the Occupy Wall Street Protest
is probably faking to be a 'bullish value investor who cares for jobs' – a category that doesn't exist in reality.
Never trust a man who still thinks it's acceptable to wear three piece suits.
I studied quant with this guy at Harvard.
- yesterdays beige hedge fraud manager
For all of you behind corporate censor-walls who can't click the ad for SI swimsuit photos you are missing out.
-Guy who for undisclosed reasons cannot stand up and leave the desk just yet
Ok, kids from strong island, all together now: anyone who offers to train me for a job that doesn't exist anymore ("stockbroker" – seriously, has anyone outside of a boiler room called himself that in at least 10 years?) is engaged in something criminal, and to be avoided.
I always thought that whole company was just an elaborate prank to get lots of financial news anchors to say "John Thomas" with a straight face.
That guy's face is just the worst. I want to pelt him with banana peppers.
No contrast collar shirt? Shocking.
-Guy Who Doesn't Trust Anyone Who Wears a Contrast Collar Shirt
I don't trust anyone who knows what a contrast collar shirt is
- guy who agrees not to trust anyone who wears contrast collars but didnt know that's what they are called
TX
BF
assuming he is in fact wearing pants in the picture
telling investors they would invest in microcap stocks, bridge loans and life-insurance policies
lordy lord
SG
What kind of dummy stands for 14 hours a day for 300 dollars a week?!
Always with the three names, even though one is in inverted commas.
Also, did anyone else think of Troy McLure?
Jarkesy disregarded the basic standards to which all fund managers are held,” Andrew M. Calamari, director of the SEC’s New York regional office, said in the statement. “Not only did he falsify valuations and deceive investors about the value of their holdings, but he bent over backwards to enrich Belesis at the funds’ expense.”
Bending over for John Thomas Financial is the NKI…
MH
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