Defendant Greenlaw, et al, Securities Fraud, Texas 2021

A Texas jury has delivered a guilty verdict against United Development Funding (UDF) executives Hollis Morrison Greenlaw, Benjamin Lee Wissink, Cara Delin Obert, and Jeffrey Brandon Jester for their roles in a massive securities fraud scheme.

According to prosecutors, the defendants engaged in a five-year scheme to defraud investors using investment fund entities UDF III, UDF IV, and UDF V. The scheme, which ran from January 2011 to December 2015, preyed on roughly 30,000 individuals who invested in the funds.

The guilty verdicts, delivered on January 21, 2021, after a five-day trial, found the defendants guilty of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and eight substantive counts of securities fraud.

Prosecutors are now seeking restitution for the thousands of investors who were defrauded by the defendants. Under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act, victims may be entitled to compensation for their losses.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Dallas Field Office led the investigation into the scheme, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tiffany H. Eggers, Rachael Jones, Elyse Lyons, and Errin Martin prosecuting the case. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor presided over the trial.

Investors who believe they were victims of the scheme are urged to visit https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndtx/united-states-v-greenlaw-et-al-udf for up-to-date information on sentencing hearings and instructions on how to submit victim impact statements. Broker-dealers and financial advisors who offered UDF III, IV, and V to their clients are also requested to notify investors of this information.

The sentencing hearings are currently scheduled for May 20, 2022, at 9 a.m. in Fort Worth, Texas. Investors who wish to submit victim impact statements can email USATXN.UDFVictims@usdoj.gov.

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