A lawyer and his firm are among a group that schemed to raise $449 million for investments in purported litigation settlements, then misappropriated funds for boats and a private jet, the SEC alleges in federal court in Nevada.
Matthew Wade Beasley, Beasley Law Group PC, and nine other defendants took part in the scheme, which convinced more than 600 investors to purchase interests in insurance tort settlements with a promised annual return of 50% or more, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Nevada.
FBI agents executed search warrants on the homes of Beasley and two other defendants in March. “When agents arrived at Beasley’s home, Beasley brandished a pistol and the agents shot him twice,” the complaint says. He then “locked himself inside his home for nearly four hours” and “repeatedly confessed” that the investments were part of a Ponzi scheme.
He faces a separate criminal case over that incident.
Beasley and Jeffrey Judd acted as “business partners” in the three entities that offered investments, and Beasley also purported to act as a lawyer for the entities, the SEC says. “It appears that at least $449 million in investor funds flowed into the scheme through Beasley Law Group’s attorney trust” account.
Judd and Christopher Humphries, who promoted the scheme, told investors their funds would go toward advance payments to tort plaintiffs who settled their claims with…
