Dad’s Ponzi scheme costs son’s former B-D $2.7 million in FINRA arbitration

Arkadios Capital, a mid-sized broker-dealer in Georgia with 350 financial advisors, yesterday lost a FINRA arbitration lawsuit and has been ordered to pay $2.7 million in damages to a claimant who was not a client of Arkadios but was the victim of a Ponzi scheme.

The twist? An ex-Arkadios broker’s father ran the fraud while the two worked side-by-side in a suburb of San Francisco.

Michael Lickiss, the one-time Arkadios advisor at the center of the investor’s claim, worked at Arkadios from the end of 2021 to the summer of 2024, according to his BrokerCheck profile, and was based in Danville, Calif.

Michael’s father, Edwin Lickiss, worked in the securities industry for 36 years before being suspended by FINRA in 2014 for not revealing federal and state tax liens on his work records. He was never registered with Arkadios. 

Edwin Lickiss, 78, in May pleaded guilty in federal court in Oakland to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with a decades-long Ponzi scheme, according to a statement by the Department of Justice.

The father’s Ponzi scheme is not mentioned in the arbitration award, which was issued by a panel under the aegis of FINRA Dispute resolution.

Instead, the client alleged a breach of fiduciary duty and aiding and abetting a breach of fiduciary duty; negligence; failure to supervise; selling away and other claims against Arkadios, according to the award.

But the father’s scheme was the investment at the root of the lawsuit by the client, Candyce Myers, according to attorney, Scott Silver.

“Arkadios brought the advisor, the son, on board and did not do reasonable supervision,” said Silver, who did not represent Myers in her lawsuit but works with the attorney who did. “The father even shared office space with the son and used a Medallion Guarantee stamp on the client’s account statements. It’s very old school.”

Michael Lickiss is now registered with an RIA, Pacific Wealth Advisory Services, and did not return a call to the firm to comment.

Arkadios Capital will seek to file a motion to vacate in federal court and overturn the panel’s decision, according to a company executive.

“Arkadios is shocked by and vehemently disagrees with the award to this claimant,” said Spence Pryor, chief legal and corporate strategy officer at Arkadios, in an interview Wednesday. “The evidence did not support the panel’s decision.”

“The claimant was never a client of Arkadios Capital,” Pryor said. “And Edwin Lickiss was never associated or employed by Arkadios.

Pryor acknowledged that the father had an office in the son’s workplace, but the firm did not know about it. He also said Edwin Lickiss, unbeknownst to the firm or his son, stole the Medallion stamp but used it sparingly on documents.

According to his BrokerCheck profile, Michael Lickiss is the focus of seven pending complaints from investors.

The father, Edwin Lickiss, this year admitted he ran a Ponzi scheme from 1998 through September 2024, according to the Department of Justice.

“He defrauded more than 93 investors of at least $9.5 million,” according to a statement from the Department of Justice. “To induce investments, Lickiss falsely claimed that he would place victim funds into exclusive, safe, tax-free bonds, with some generating returns in excess of 20 percent.”

“Lickiss also issued fraudulent promissory notes on the letterhead of his former firm, Foundation Financial Group,” according to the statement. “In fact, Lickiss used subsequent victim funds to make payments to those who had invested earlier, consistent with a Ponzi scheme.”

Lickiss also diverted victim’s money for his own use, including cash withdrawals, home renovations, travel, and payments on vehicles, mortgages, and personal credit cards. He has yet to be sentenced.