Easley Investment Advisor in Hot Water

A federal judge has issued an emergency order freezing the assets of Easley investment advisor Robert Stanley Harrison amid allegations of fraud by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

The order also prohibits Harrison, who ran his business primarily out of his home, from destroying books and records and grants the CFTC immediate access to those records.

The order arises out of a civil enforcement complaint filed by the CFTC on February 6, charging Harrison with fraudulently soliciting funds from members of the public to invest in the Investors Choice Advisors LLC commodity pool.  

The CFTC complaint said Harrison received at least $1 million from pool participants from November 2010 to September 2012.

According to the CFTC’s complaint, Harrison also guaranteed pool participants’ principal investment against risk of loss and further guaranteed 100 percent profits on those investments within 60 or 90 days. 

The complaint also alleges that Harrison and his agent issued false investment contracts to pool participants that represented the purported profits.  

According to the complaint, Harrison also allegedly misappropriated some pool participant funds, improperly operated the commodity pool, and failed to register himself as a Commodity Pool Operator and his agent as an Associated Person with the CFTC.

In the continuing litigation, the CFTC seeks a permanent injunction from future violations of federal commodities laws, permanent registration and trading bans, restitution to defrauded pool participants, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and civil monetary penalties.