Former Cetera Advisor Daniel B. Vazquez charged with Fraud

SEC Files Charges – Hoplon Financial Group & Former CEO Daniel B. Vazquez

According to a press announcement yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Daniel B. Vazquez, Sr. and Hoplon Financial Group for lying to investors in a real estate-related securities offering fraud.

The SEC alleges Hoplon Financial Group and Daniel B. Vazquez, Irvine, CA, created the New Economic Opportunities Fund I, LLC vehicle for the ostensible purpose of pooling investor funds to purchase and flip residential real estate properties.

Hoplon and Vazquez purportedly sold membership units in the fund, according to the complaint, raising $2.18 million from 27 investors, primarily from investors’ individual retirement account funds, based on alleged misrepresentations about how much compensation they would take.

The complaint further alleges that from the beginning, Hoplon and Vazquez, with the assistance of Hoplon’s then-COO Gilbert Fluetsch, misused most of the funds to pay unrelated business or personal expenses, including approximately $780,000 that was reportedly misappropriated since January 2013.

The SEC states that Hoplon and Vazquez, by promoting and selling these securities, violated federal broker-dealer registration provisions.

According to his FINRA BrokerReport, Vazquez was registered with Cetera Advisors in Irvine, CA from November 2013 until May 2016. Prior to that, he was associated with Investors Capital Corp. in Irvine, CA from September 2011 until November 2013.

His broker report states that FINRA barred Vazquez from the financial industry in September 2016. Vazquez has 8 customer disputes listed on his report, four of which are pending. Allegations include unsuitable and excessive trades among others.

Failure to Supervise

Brokerage firms are required to adequately supervise their advisors. They must ensure they are complying with FINRA rules.

When brokers abuse client accounts and conduct transactions that violate securities laws, the brokerage firm they are working with may be liable for investment losses. Brokerage firms that fail to monitor the business activities of their employees may be liable for investment losses due to negligent supervision for the misconduct of their employees.

The brokerage firms can be held responsible for any losses in a FINRA arbitration claim if it is determined that they failed to properly supervise their agent.

Free Consultation

Have you suffered losses investing with Daniel B. Vazquez and the New Economic Opportunities Fund I? If so, the attorneys at The White Law Group may be able to help you recover your losses through FINRA Arbitration. 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, please visit our website, www.whitesecuritieslaw.com.