Yet again, Tommy Belesis barred from the securities industry

Anastasios "Tommy" Belesis, the former owner of John Thomas Financial who once maintained a high profile on Wall Street, has been barred for the third time from the securities industry. The Securities and Exchange Commission first barred him in 2013 after charging that his firm placed customers in two John Thomas hedge funds, and the funds' adviser and manager fraudulently elevated the firm's interests over those of the funds. Two years later, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority Inc. kicked him out of the securities industry for trading ahead of his clients in a penny stock, American West Resources Inc. And on Tuesday, the SEC barred him for the second time, in this case for his involvement in an alleged pump-and-dump trading scheme of a mining company, Liberty Silver Corp. At one time, Mr. Belesis was a regular on cable business-news channels and seemed to particularly relish Neil Cavuto's attention on Fox Business. Hollywood also beckoned. Oliver Stone tapped Mr. Belesis for a walk-on part in "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps," the 2010 sequel to Mr. Stone's "Wall Street." According to this week's SEC action, in the summer of 2012 Mr. Belesis and Robert Genovese, a controlling shareholder of Liberty Silver, agreed that John Thomas would sell his Liberty Silver shares to its customers. In turn, John Thomas' holding company, owned by Mr. Belesis, would get a $2 million loan. "While recommending Liberty Silver to his customers, Belesis made statements concerning individuals controlling Liberty Silver, and Liberty Silver's financial prospects, but failed to inform his customers of multiple material facts," including the $2 million loan and who owned the Liberty Silver shares, according to the SEC. "He settled the case without admitting or denying the allegations and he's going to move on with his life," said Mr. Belesis' attorney, Ira Sorkin, who declined to say what his client was now doing. According to the SEC, Mr. Belesis' customers paid him a total $435,000 in commissions from the purchase of Liberty Silver shares. Mr. Genovese received $8.2 million in net proceeds, from which he issued the $2 million loan to the holding company controlled by Mr. Belesis. As part of the order, Mr. Belesis will pay disgorgement and fines of $932,000. The SEC on Wednesday filed a fraud complaint stemming from the sale of Liberty Silver stock against Mr. Genovese and Abraham "Avi" Mirman, the former head of investment banking at John Thomas.