The SEC announced that a grand jury indicted former RR and licensed insurance broker Edward Moskop of Belleville, IL, on charges of mail fraud and money laundering.  Moskop, 62, had been associated with 3 broker-dealers from 1983 through 1990 - last working for The Investment Center, Inc.  However, beginning in 1991 and continuing through 2010, he allegedly passed himself off as a securities broker with his own company, Financial Services Moskop and Associates, Inc.

Over those 20 years, Moskop allegedly persuaded customers to provide him with funds for investment - and, instead of making the investments, he kept the funds for his own use.  All told, he fraudulently obtained $2.4 million from 25 victims - including relatives, individuals referred by trusted friends and attorneys, a local Veterans of Foreign War Post, and long-time customers of his insurance business.   The criminal case is being prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Illinois.

The SEC filed a parallel civil action against Moskop and his company - although the SEC charged that Moskop's misappropriations began in  1989, and that his victims included at least 2 elderly investors, from whom he misappropriated most of the life savings.  The judge granted the SEC's motion for emergency relief by freezing the assets of Moskop and his company.   For further information, the SEC refers readers to Litigation Release No. 21752, 11/22/10.  [SEC Litigation Release 21983, 5/27/11]