Owayne Bradbery Sentenced To 5 Years For Securities Fraud

Owayne Bradbery, Image Credit: Linkedin

WEST PALM BEACH, FL (Boca Post) — The Office Of Financial Regulation tells Boca Post that Owayne Bradbery has been sentenced to 5 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation after being accused of stock and real estate investment scams across Palm Beach County.

From the Office of Financial Regulation:

“The Office of Financial Regulation (OFR) today announced that Owayne Anthony Bradbery was sentenced to five years in state prison to be followed by ten years of probation for his role in stock and real estate investment scams. He was also ordered to pay $136,000 in restitution to victims.”

“OFR Commissioner Russell C. Weigel, III said, “Thank you to OFR’s investigative team, the West Palm Beach Police Department, and the State Attorney’s Office in West Palm Beach for their hard work in this case. The Office of Financial Regulation remains committed to working with our partners to stop financial crime and bring financial criminals to justice.”

“Bradbery represented himself as an investment professional who was authorized to offer and sell securities through his financial company, Owanye Bradbery Financial, LLC. He persuaded his victims, whom he met mostly through personal social interactions, to place money with his company based on representations that the money would be invested in stocks. However, Bradbery was not registered to offer or sell securities at the time that he solicited the investments. The investigation revealed that Bradbery produced and distributed fake account statements showing profitable trades that never happened in an effort to convince investors that their investments were performing well.”

“Bradbery also engaged in a fraudulent real estate sales scheme, which victimized some of the same investors as the securities scam. He was a licensed real estate agent and showed his victims homes for purchase and then solicited money for down payments. Records indicate that victims never closed on the properties and their down payments were not returned to them.”

“The case was investigated by the OFR and the West Palm Beach Police Department. The case was prosecuted by the State Attorney’s Office in West Palm Beach.”

According to an affidavit filed by the West Palm Beach Police Department, “the facts of the case allege that Bradbery knowingly conspired to establish and use shell companies and/or fictitious companies in Florida in the name of Owayne Bradbery Financial Services, Marcia Morris Agency, and Morris Agency to facilitate the collection of deposits for real estate transactions from a Florida victim. Bradbery held himself out to the public as a broker who was engaged in the business of buying and selling real estate when his real estate license expired on March 31, 2017. Furthermore, Bradbery misrepresented the true deposit amount on the Residential Contract and that the named escrow agent was fictitious. As such, an escrow agent has a fiduciary duty to the grantor and grantee to use good faith and reasonable skill, which Bradbery breached. ”

The report continues, “Bradbery acted with criminal intent to defraud MosesPichardoin this case. Bradbery knowingly utilized a scheme to defraud his victim into believing that Marcia Morris Agency and/or Morris Agency was a legitimate escrow company where the victim’s funds would be protected for the transaction it was intended for. This investigation revealed that Marcia Morris Agency and/or Morris Agency existed for the sole purpose of perpetuating this fraud as no corporate filings could be found. Instead, bank records obtained during this investigation as detailed above, reveal that Owayne Bradbery, Owayne Bradbery Financial Services, Marcia Morris Agency, and Morris Agency simply deposited his victims’ real estate funds and illegally converted it for personal gain.”

Charges were eventually filed in 2019. Bradbery was found guilty in March of 2022 and several charges were dropped, which is typical in Palm Beach County. Bradbery was sentenced earlier this month.