Last week, Siddharth Jawahar was sentenced to 11 years in prison and ordered to pay $31.35 million in restitution for running a Ponzi scheme and defrauding investors in Texas and elsewhere out of millions of dollars.

The convictions follow an extensive federal investigation conducted with significant assistance from the Texas State Securities Board’s Enforcement Division.

Fraudsters increasingly target senior Texans through investment scams, digital asset schemes, impersonation fraud, romance scams, social media solicitations, and other deceptive practices designed to steal retirement savings and lifelong investments.

According to the order, Lasater Capital has been offering investments in a real estate fund known as Lasater RE Fund 14.

According to the order, BG Wealth (Gagan Sarkaria and Thaddious Thomas) have been soliciting unregistered securities to the public by promising exorbitant, "zero-risk" returns.

According to the Order, investors are being encouraged to purchase tokenized interests in purported real estate assets for as little as $10 and are being led to believe the investments will generate income through rental properties and other real estate-related activities.

The order alleges that investor funds were transferred through personal bank accounts before being transmitted to a cryptocurrency platform that does not provide foreign exchange trading services.

According to federal authorities, Brooklynn Chandler Willy pleaded guilty to 10 felony counts arising from a scheme to defraud investors.

According to the indictment, Kranenberg and Silea solicited investments from friends, family members, and acquaintances by representing that funds would be invested in mutual funds and private stock portfolios.

Voyager operated a cryptocurrency brokerage platform that allowed customers to buy, sell, trade, and store digital assets.

According to the order, the Mining Packages were offered and sold in Texas without registration and neither the sales agents, nor the respondents, were registered as securities dealers or agents as required by state law.

To date, neither Securities Commissioner Iles nor the staff of the TSSB have been provided with corresponding evidence to review.

The Texas State Securities Board filed a notice of hearing with the State Office of Administrative Hearings asserting, among other things, that Smith Wealth Advisors and Smith misappropriated funds from at least ten clients.

State securities laws prohibit firms from charging unreasonable commissions to their customers.

As such, investors were forced to pay the premiums on the policies—shrinking their return on investment in the death benefits they purchased.

A new token deployed on a proprietary blockchain that is allegedly being illegally and fraudulently offered in Texas by Josip Heit, Dirc Zahlmann, Bruce Innes Wylde Hughes and Dennis Loos.

The four-year investigation was a coordinated effort by a working group of 14 state securities regulators.