Richard J. Randolph, III, Securities Fraud, Georgia 2023

Atlanta CEO Sentenced to Prison for Securities Fraud

ATLANTA – Richard J. Randolph, III has been sentenced for securities fraud he committed while CEO of Randolph Acquisitions, Inc.

“Corporate executives, like Randolph, are expected to defend investors’ money, not take advantage of their position in a company to defraud them,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine. “Instead, this defendant let his greed get the better of him and now he faces significant federal prison time.”

“Fraud is fraud, no matter how complicated,” said Steven R. Baisel, U.S. Secret Service – Atlanta Field Office. “The defendant in this case employed multiple machinations in an effort to hide his criminal acts. Ultimately, his efforts failed under the scrutiny of the law enforcement professionals tasked with unraveling his schemes.”

According to Acting U.S. Attorney Erskine, the charges and other information presented in court: Richard Randolph was the CEO, Chairman of the Board of Directors, and majority shareholder of Randolph Acquisitions, Inc., a company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, that publicly filed its financials with the Securities and Exchange Commission. He also controlled Gallagher Management Group and other related entities. In 2017 and 2018, Randolph sold over $1 million in Randolph Acquisitions stock to various investors.

“In this case, Randolph used his position of power to deceive investors and falsify financial information to make his company appear more valuable than it was,” said Erskine. “As a result, investors lost millions of dollars in the company’s stock.”

Randolph was sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay $1,044,000 in restitution to the victims of his crimes. He was also ordered to forfeit $1,044,000 in proceeds gained from his crimes.

The case against Randolph was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

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