Ex-Broker Charged With Murdering Client May Also Face FINRA Sanctions

In addition to serving as Seegan's financial advisor, Ashley was a friend who would periodically visit the Seegan home, Carrollton police said, adding: "During the course of the investigation, detectives also identified several other victims of a 'Ponzi'-type scheme Ashley orchestrated."

On Feb. 19, 2020, Seegan's wife "found her husband dead of a gunshot wound to the head when she returned" to their Carrolton home, Carrollton police said, adding: "Directly next to him was a typed note indicating it was a suicide."

But during a nine-month investigation, "detectives found evidence that Ashley actually incapacitated, then murdered Seegan in an attempt to gain control of his finances," Carrollton police alleged.

Fraud Charges

Parkland Securities terminated Ashley on Oct. 27, 2020, saying it had "reason to believe that the representative engaged in undisclosed outside business activities and also failed to provide the firm with prior notice of private securities transactions involving his privately held company," according to a disclosure in his report on the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's BrokerCheck website.

In November 2020, a federal grand jury indicted Ashley on six counts of wire fraud. The indictment alleged, among other things, that Ashley solicited money from his victims under the pretense that he was investing those funds in a unit investment trust.

The indictment also alleged that he made false statements when soliciting those investments, including that there were guaranteed returns and there was no risk to the initial principal investment.

According to the indictment, instead of investing the funds in a UIT, Ashley spent the more than $1 million he solicited on personal expenses, including spending at casinos and paying credit card bills, mortgage payments, college tuition and student loans, according to FINRA.