SEC Charges Ernest Romer with Defrauding Customers

Ernest Romer III – CoreCap Investments – Securities Fraud Investigation

The White Law Group continues to investigate potential securities fraud claims involving financial advisor Ernest Romer III and CoreCap Investments.

According to a press announcement yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Ernest Romer III, a former registered representative, with defrauding his brokerage customers out of more than $2.7 million.

According to the SEC’s complaint, from at least 2014 through 2016, Romer allegedly persuaded at least 30 of his customers, including many elderly retirees, to sell securities in their brokerage accounts and transfer the proceeds to P&R Capital, LLC or CoreCap Solutions, LLC.

Romer allegedly told his customers that he would invest their funds in the stock market and earn them a better return than their current investments.

Romer’s customers reportedly believed that CoreCap Solutions and P&R Capital were affiliated with his former employer, CoreCap Investments Inc. According to the SEC’s complaints, Romer’s alleged statements to his customers were false.

P&R Capital and CoreCap Solutions were reportedly Romer’s personal businesses, and he allegedly stole the money and used it to benefit himself and his family, and did not invest the customers’ money in the stock market for their benefit.

According to the complaint, Romer purportedly used the stolen funds to conduct trading in his own brokerage account, and made Ponzi-like payments to other customers.

The SEC is seeking a judgment ordering Romer to disgorge his ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, and to pay civil penalties.

According to Romer’s FINRA BrokerCheck report, he was registered with CoreCap Investments in Sterling Heights, Michigan from October 2012 until January 2017 when he was fired for “Failure to report outside business activity and violations of firm policies relating to transactions with clients.” He has three other employment separations listed on his broker report.

Additionally, Romer has 47 disclosures listed on his broker report, including 22 customer complaints.  He was barred from working in the securities industry in August 2017.

Failure to Supervise

The White Law Group continues to investigate potential claims involving the liability that Romer’s employer may have for losses sustained by his clients.

Brokerage firms are required to adequately supervise their agents to ensure they are complying with FINRA rules. If it is determined that the broker dealer failed to supervise their agent, they can be held responsible for losses in a FINRA arbitration claim.

If you are concerned about your investments with Ernest Romer III, the securities attorneys at The White Law Group may be able to help you. For a free consultation with a securities attorney, please call (888) 637-5510.

The foregoing information, which is all publicly available, is being provided by The White Law Group. The White Law Group, LLC is a national securities fraud, securities arbitration, investor protection, and securities regulation/compliance law firm with offices in Chicago, Illinois and Franklin, Tennessee.

For more information on The White Law Group, please visit www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.