Kevin Jerome Brown of Hoover, Alabama is looking at a long probation sentence after pleading guilty to securities fraud, according to authorities. Brown pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud by employing a device, scheme, or artifice to defraud and one count of acting as an unregistered securities agent in Shelby County Circuit Court on September 3.

Both counts are felonies that include sentences from a year and a day to ten years and a $15,000 fine.

Judge George Daniel Reeves handed down a seven-year suspended sentence and four years of supervised probation. Brown was further ordered to pay $932,852 in restitution to nine victims by making monthly payments starting October 1.

Authorities claim that Brown used investor funds for personal expenses while working as a mortgage broker for The Mortgage Office, LLC and Bluestar Mortgage, LLC in Birmingham.

As stated in two grand jury indictments, Brown told people that the two companies could provide mortgages to clients who were having difficulty getting loans after he and the investors split the purchase price in half for properties that could be resold. He further told investors that the two parties would get half interest in collateral and half of all borrowers’ payments. The properties and borrowers, however, never existed.

Brown has been banned from working in the securities industry in Alabama, and Alabama Securities Commission records show that Brown had not been legally registered to do securities business in the state.

If you or someone you know has lost money as a result of an investment or Ponzi scheme, please contact Richard Frankowski at 888-741-7503 to discuss your potential legal remedies or complete the contact form.