DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – The Iowa Insurance Commissioner has issued a Cease and Desist Order against Windsor Jones LLC, Anthony Collins, Elizabeth Parker, and Mark Goodwin after they allegedly ripped off an investor.
An investigation into Windsor Jones began in 2021 following fraud allegations regarding an investor’s wine purchases.
According to the Cease and Desist Order, Windsor Jones accepted money from the investor to purchase 122 cases of wine. However, transaction documents with the recipient Bordeaux City Bond showed they had only purchased 86 cases.
Windsor Jones’ bank records indicated a pattern of using the investor’s investment funds on unrelated personal and business expenses. From March 2021 to April 2021 the investor gave Winsdor Jones $339,460 for investment funds through Bordeaux City Bond. Only $4,002.77 of those funds were reportedly sent to Bordeaux City Bond. The rest was spent on unrelated personal expenses including over $100,000 to watch companies.
Winsor Jones also allegedly took a 30-40% commission off of sale proceeds after telling the investor they would take 10% for their services.
“It’s unfortunate that there are individuals out there that take advantage of and defraud Iowans – especially those that prey on our older Iowans. We have investigations involving similar wine investments that appear to be fraudulent, so I encourage Iowans to be careful about any similar-sounding pitch,” Deputy Commissioner Andrew Hartnett said….
