James Allen Hall, formerly of Ocala, Florida, was arrested on March 9 in Kansas by the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office and is being charged with grand theft. Hall is currently awaiting extradition to Florida.
Hall acted as a Third Party Administrator of 401(k) plans for several Florida and out-of-state companies. Authorities believe that he altered plan participants’ email and residential addresses to his own without the participants’ knowledge or consent.
Additionally, he is believed to have created fraudulent expenses under the guise of administrative, miscellaneous, annual, and participant fees for his own personal gain. Hall purportedly placed sell orders on mutual fund holdings to fund his falsified expenses.
It is believed that Hall received more than $800,000 in illegal gains as a result of this scheme.
The Florida Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) had been investigating Hall after receiving a tip from FINRA. OFR Commissioner Drew J. Breakspear stated, “Stealing Floridians’ hard-earned 401(k) savings is heinous and will not be tolerated. The Florida Office of Financial Regulation is committed to protecting Floridians from financial fraud.”
“Investigating and exposing financial crime is the highest priority of the bureau,” said OFR Bureau of Financial Investigations Chief Robert Kynoch. “Thank you to all of our partners for their indispensable expertise in this case, including the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the Office of Statewide Prosecution and the Crawford County Sheriff’s Office.”
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.