A former financial advisor who ran a Ponzi scheme in northern California for more than 25 yesterday was sentenced to nine years for the fraud, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Edwin E. Lickiss Jr. earlier had pleaded to wire fraud and money laundering in connection with the fraud.
Lickiss, 78, of Danville, California, admitted that he defrauded at least 93 victims of over $9.5 million from 1998 through September 2024.
As part of the scheme, Lickiss said that he would invest victims’ money in exclusive, tax-free bonds that offered rates of return up to 30%, according to the Department of Justice.
Lickiss also claimed that members of his own family had invested in the bonds, that he charged no investment fees because he had already profited so substantially, and that investors could redeem their money at any time.
According to the Department of Justice, the bonds did not exist. Instead, the former advisor, who had been suspended from the securities industry for four months by FINRA in 2014, funneled money from later victims to pay earlier investors, consistent with a Ponzi scheme.
Lickiss was never again licensed to sell securities but continued his scheme. According to the federal government, he also siphoned victim funds to pay personal expenses, including cash withdrawals, home renovations, travel, and payments on vehicles, mortgages, and personal credit cards.
“Nine years,” said Scott Silveer, a plaintiff’s attorney representing investors who gave money to Lickiss. “This guy ripped off people for more than 20 years. We estimated he stole in the neighborhood of $20 million to $30 million.”
“From my clients’ point of view, the punishment doesn’t fit the crime,” Silver said. “Keep in mind that was a disciplined fraud for over 25 years. There is no punishment he doesn’t deserve.”
“It’s an ounce of justice, although he is an old man himself now,” Silver added.
The fallout from Lickiss’ scheme continues.
In what surprised some in the industry, Arkadios Capital, a mid-sized broker-dealer in Georgia with 350 financial advisors, in June lost a FINRA arbitration lawsuit and was ordered to pay $2.7 million in damages to a claimant who was not a client of Arkadios but was the victim of Lickiss’ Ponzi scheme.
The twist? Michael Lickiss, an ex-Arkadios broker, worked side by side with his father in a suburb of San Francisco while Edwin Lickiss ran the fraud.
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, never registered with Arkadios. The attorney for the clients, Silver, said Arkadios has appealed the arbitrators’ decision.
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