Former stockbroker, Thomas Caniford, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for numerous charges including securities fraud and theft from the elderly.

According to the Morrow County Sentinel, Caniford’s 34 victims, which included members of a local church, lost nearly half a million dollars. Allegedly, Caniford told clients his hedge fund, FundCap Growth Portfolio, was stable and would offset market losses. Caniford was the general partner in Fundcap Growth Portfolio Limited Partnership. He also owned and operated Caniford and Company Capital Management located in North Canton, Ohio.

Allegedly, Caniford prolonged his scheme by providing victims with false investment statements, including misleading statements from third-party trust companies administering self-directed Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs).

According to Morrow County Sentinel, Ohio Securities Commissioner Andrea Seidt said “Self-directed IRA statements provide a veil of legitimacy to cloaked theft and fraud by scammers who can steal a lifetime of hard-earned retirement dollars.”

Caniford pled guilty to 19 counts of securities fraud, 72 counts of publishing false investment statements, 20 counts of theft, six counts of theft from the elderly, and 18 counts of selling unregistered securities.

According to FINRA’s BrokerCheck, Caniford has been registered to sell securities since 1982. In addition to operating his own business in Ohio, he was registered with M Holdings Securities from 03/2004 – 03/2008 and LPL Financial from 03/2008 – 03/2015. Caniford has 13 disclosure events listed on his BrokerCheck report, which included seven customer disputes and one criminal event.

The White Law Group is investigating what liability that Caniford’s affiliated brokerage firm may have for his actions. When a FINRA registered representative conducts business outside the scope of the brokerage firm where they are registered, the act can be considered “selling away.” If a registered broker “sells away” from their firm, the brokerage firm may still be liable for negligent supervision of their broker representative and may be responsible for investment losses in a FINRA dispute resolution claim.

If you suffered losses investing with Thomas Caniford and would like to discuss your potential to recover your losses through a FINRA arbitration claim, please call the securities attorney of The White Law Group at 1-888-637-5510 for a free consultation.

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 Vero Beach, Florida.

To learn more about The White Law Group, visit www.WhiteSecuritesLaw.com.