SEC Charges Red Rock Secured, Three Executives in Fraud Scheme Targeting Retirement Accounts

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against El Segundo, California-based Red Rock Secured LLC, its CEO, Sean Kelly, and two of its former Senior Account Executives, Anthony Spencer and Jeffrey Ward, in connection with a fraudulent scheme that involved convincing hundreds of investors to sell securities in their retirement accounts to buy gold and silver coins at prices that included markups far greater than the defendants had promised.

According to the SEC’s complaint, since at least 2017, the defendants repeatedly solicited investors through false and misleading statements, telling them to “protect” their retirement savings by selling securities held in their federal employee Thrift Savings Plan accounts, 401(k) plans, and Individual Retirement Accounts to invest in gold or silver coins at only a 1 to 5 percent markup. In reality, Red Rock charged as much as 130 percent in markups, which allowed them to pocket more than $30 million of the more than $50 million they received from investors.

Source: SEC.gov | SEC Charges Red Rock Secured, Three Executives in Fraud Scheme Targeting Retirement Accounts