Ex-Merrill Rep Indicted; Accused of Bilking Pastors, Churchgoers

In an April 16 complaint, the SEC had said Conley raised the $5.2 million in funds from "at least 20 investors through the fraudulent offer and sale of securities," convincing "some of his most trusting investors, including pastors and church congregants, to invest their money with one or more of the entities he controlled while knowing the investments were not legitimate, that he would make no securities investments on their behalf, and would instead spend their money like it was his own."

The complaint alleged that, between January 2014 and September 2018, Conley induced investors to buy securities "by making a series of materially false and misleading statements and omissions concerning the legitimacy of the investments and the use of investor proceeds."

Conley allegedly failed to invest those proceeds as promised and instead commingled investor funds in bank accounts that he controlled, the SEC said. Conley instead "used the majority of the funds to support his lavish lifestyle, including private jet charters, luxury automobiles, opulent jewelry and clothing purchases, and to repay other investors with Ponzi-like payments," the regulator said.

He allegedly "perpetrated the fraud by claiming that he managed multiple private investment funds through his company," ALPAX LLC, and affiliated shell companies, the SEC said.

The SEC charged Conley with violations of the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-8.

— Related on ThinkAdvisor:

• SEC Says Ex-Merrill Rep Bilked Pastors and Churchgoers, Bought Luxury Goods
• SEC Charges Fraudsters-Turned-Pastors in Ponzi Scheme: Enforcement
• Megachurch Pastor, Banned Broker Nabbed for Defrauding Elderly Churchgoers