Two Memphis-area money men were popped by the state last year for dishonest business practices.
Clifton Alexander, owner of a private investment club called huegroi.com, was ordered to pay $20,000 in civil penalties by the securities division of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance.
That office said Alexander, of Shelby County, through his hugeroi.com website, offered an investment that promised a 20-percent monthly return. A Georgia man took the opportunity and wired Alexander $20,000 after joining hugeroi.com as a lifetime member for $149.95.
State documents say instead of investing that money anywhere, Alexander “used the funds to pay for his own personal expenses.”
Turns out, the investment was not registered with the state and neither was Alexander.
So, on top of the fine, Alexander is permanently barred from doing business as a broker-dealer or investment advisor in Tennessee.
Brian O’Neil Putt, of Collierville, was ordered to pay $115,000 in fines last year for a string of bad deals stretching back to 2011.
In 2011, while Putt was working at UBS, he sold two certificates of deposits (CDs) to a couple for a total of $135,000. When they requested repayment of their investment, he admitted to them “that he had betrayed their trust and was unable to to pay the amount requested in one lump sum,” according to state documents.
A string of bad deals followed after Putt was fired from UBS and had set up his own firm, O’Neil Capital Partners. Deals were made and Putt never paid.
In May of 2016, Putt was convicted in Shelby County Criminal Court of theft over $60,000 and was given eight years of probation. As a result of the conviction he was made to pay two of his former customers $3,168 in restitution.
For all of this — selling unregistered securities and doing so while not registered as broker, dealer, or investment advisor — Putt was ordered to pay the fine and pay the costs associated with the investigation into and the hearing for the matter.
The state’s order, however, does not bar him from working as a broker. It only says he “shall cease and desist” any future illegal activities.
