On or about July 21, 2025, a federal grand jury in Oakland, California indicted Edwin Emmett Lickiss, Jr., on one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with an alleged $9.5 million investment fraud scheme. This pursuant to a statement by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).
The federal indictment states that between 1998 and September 2024, Lickiss, 77, who owned and operated Foundation Financial Group, a firm that provided investment services to investors throughout the United States. Lickiss was a registered broker until 2014, when the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) suspended his broker’s license. This suspension prohibited the sale of securities by Lickiss or his company until the license was reinstated. Despite this, Lickiss allegedly continued to solicit and obtain investments from victim investors until around September 2024.
The DOJ alleges Lickiss falsely represented to investors that he would invest their funds in government bonds and other bonds. To induce his victims to invest their money with him, Lickiss claimed he had exclusive access to fictitious bonds that paid very high rates of returns, including rates in excess of 20 percent. Lickiss described the fictitious bonds as safe, secure, and tax-free, and falsely claimed, among other things, that they could be redeemed at any time.
Instead of investing the funds, Lickiss allegedly used victim investors’ funds to pay earlier investors, which is the definition of a Ponzi scheme, and used the remaining funds for his personal use such as home renovations, travel, and car, mortgage, and personal credit card payments. In all, Lickiss allegedly obtained at least $9.5 million from no fewer than 50 victim investors.
This case presents an interesting issue of how Lickiss was able to continue operating though he lacked a license for the final nine years of the scheme.
Please contact us with questions or concerns related to this post. This post is meant as commentary to this recent event.
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