BOK Financial to pay $1.6MM in Brogdon Muni Fraud Case

BOK Financial Settles SEC claims over Christopher Brogdon Senior Housing Deals

On September 9, 2016 the SEC announced a settlement with BOK Financial Corporation whereby the firm agreed to pay $1.6 million to settle allegations that it failed to disclose a number of problems and concerns with several Christopher Brogdon municipal bond offerings.

The SEC contended that Bok Financial was aware of numerous red flags related to the offerings, such as the fact that Brogdon was withdrawing money from the bond offering reserve funds, and not filing annual financial statements for the offerings.  The SEC charged Brogdon with fraud and he has since agreed to repay over eighty million dollars to investors.

The SEC claimed that BOK Financial failed to act in the best interests of the investors while it served as the trustee for the municipal bond offerings.  One of the allegations claimed that BOK financial knew that a significant piece of collateral for one of the offerings had been impaired, but that a vice president at the bank, fearing that future business with Brogdon would be jeopardized, persuaded BOK Financial not to disclose the issue.  This vice president has since been charged by the SEC with wrongdoing related to the failure to disclose.

BOK Financial was obligated to disclose material problems with the offerings, and to notify the bondholders of problems discovered while it acted as indenture trustee.  The SEC claims that BOK Financial turned a blind eye to the problems in the offerings in hopes it would generate additional fees from Brogdon in the future.  As part of the settlement with the SEC BOK Financial paid a $600,000 penalty on top of nearly a million dollars representing fees earned on the Brogdon deals.

BOK Financial is an Oklahoma corporation, formed in 1985, and it is licensed to sell securities in 52 U.S. States and territories.

According to financial regulator FINRA’s broker check report, BOK Financial has been the subject of nine regulatory investigations since 1985.

The Law Office of David Liebrader practices exclusively in the field of investment loss recovery.  For the past 23 years, we have dedicated our law practice to assisting investors who have been victims of investment fraud via fraudulent and unsuitable investment transactions.  During that time we have recovered money for over one thousand individuals, pension plans, trusts and companies.  The recoveries we have obtained via judgments, awards and settlements on behalf of our clients exceed $40,000,000.

FINRA’s rules require that all investment recommendations made by licensed financial advisors be suitable in light of a customer’s needs, objectives and risk tolerance. In addition, all registered representatives are required to be properly supervised, with periodic inspections and reviews by qualified supervisors, whose job it is to vigorously investigate suspicions of wrongdoing (red flags).

If you purchased bonds in one of the Christopher Brogdon muni bond offerings call us today for a free, confidential consultation at (702) 380-3131.

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