This case arose out of an investment fraud scheme Herman operated with her co-conspirator Gregg D. Caplitz. From 1994 to 2012, Herman was president and CEO of Insight Onsite Financial Solutions, a Commission registered investment adviser. Caplitz was the adviser's chief compliance officer.

In October 2013, Herman and Caplitz were indicted on charges including investment adviser fraud, wire fraud, impeding the administration of the tax laws, and conspiracy to commit investment adviser fraud, submit false statements to the Commission, commit wire fraud, and defraud the IRS. During Herman's jury trial, the evidence established that Herman induced investment by telling investors that their money would be invested in a hedge fund. But Herman instead used investor funds for her own benefit. And when four investors complained and threatened to report Herman and Caplitz to appropriate authorities, Herman and Caplitz returned approximately $61,000 to them. The jury found Herman guilty of single counts of conspiracy, investment adviser fraud, and impeding the administration of the tax laws, and four counts of wire fraud.

During Herman's sentencing hearing, the district court increased Herman's offense level because her offense involved vulnerable victims and substantial hardship to at least five people and because she was an investment adviser when her misconduct occurred. The court also heard from Herman's victims. Victim evidence presented during sentencing revealed that Herman's adviser fraud victims included a 75-year-old veteran who lost $500,000 that he had saved so that he could live comfortably in retirement. Further victim evidence indicated that other victims included a cancer patient who has since died, a paralyzed woman, and a man with dementia residing in a nursing home.

The district court offered Herman the opportunity to address the court at the conclusion of her sentencing hearing. Herman initially said she was "extremely sorry," before blaming Caplitz and saying she "had no idea he was stealing money and forging people's signatures," and adding, "I cannot believe and I am horrified by his ruthless and heartless acts." Herman concluded by saying, "I have lost everything I worked 35-plus years for and I hope everyone believes how sorry I am for what Mr. Caplitz did."

Immediately following Herman's statement, the district court sentenced her to seven years' imprisonment and ordered her to pay over $1.8 million in restitution. That figure included nearly $500,000 to the IRS. Nearly all of the balance was to be paid to individuals. The district court then addressed Herman, saying that she was "in denial," and that she "knew what was going on was criminal from the get-go, and … knew that [she was] stealing people's money, for years and years." 

The customers were husband and wife. After the husband died, his son contacted Claimant because the son wanted to transfer all of his mother's assets to the company where he worked, so he could handle the remaining assets. The customers executed a section 1035 exchange of an annuity for a mutual fund. The son demanded that Claimant waive the contingent deferred sale charges ("CDSCs") associated with the exchange. Claimant did not have the authority to waive the charges, and the son filed a complaint. The complaint was legally defective, the son made no showing whatsoever that he had the authority to act on behalf of his mother. Moreover, the son wasn't in privity with either Claimant or Respondent Prudential. As a result, Respondent Prudential owed no duty to the son, and by extension, Claimant owed no duty to the son. The son's complaint was a pretext to bully Prudential and Claimant into waiving the transfer fee. Respondent Prudential made a business decision to settle the complaint for its nuisance value. Claimant did not participate in the negotiations, did not sign the settlement agreement, and Claimant did not contribute to the settlement amount. Accordingly, the claim, allegation, or information is factually impossible or clearly erroneous. The complaint should be expunged. 

Between May 2015 and April 2016, while associated with National Securities, Eichner exercised discretion in at least ten customer accounts. Eichner had not obtained prior written authorization from the customers to exercise discretion in their accounts, and National Securities had not accepted the accounts for discretionary trading. Eichner's exercise of discretion is aggravated by the fact that he completed two compliance questionnaire for National Securities attesting that he did not exercise discretion in his customers' accounts during the period of May 2015 through April 2016. 

Additionally, in March 2016, Eichner exercised discretion in a deceased customer's account by accepting, on a single occasion, trade instructions from an unauthorized third party. Neither the customer nor the customer's estate had given written authorization allowing Eichner to exercise discretion by accepting instructions from a third party, and National Securities had not approved the account for discretionary trading.

Jackson County Man Charged with Defrauding Investors in $50 Million Ponzi Scheme (DOJ Release)
https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/jackson-county-man-charged-defrauding-investors-50-million-ponzi-scheme
Jason E. Adkins agreed to plead guilty in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio to three counts of wire fraud and six counts related to money laundering. As set forth in part in the DOJ Release:

[B]eginning in 2012 and continuing through 2018, Adkins conspired to solicit millions of dollars from investors under false pretenses, failed to invest the funds as promised and misappropriated investors' funds for his own benefit and the benefit of others.

Adkins and others claimed that they bought and sold over-sized tires commonly known as off-the-road tires, which are used on earth moving equipment and/or mining equipment. Investors were told their money would be used to buy the tires at a steep discount, and that the tires would then be re-sold to a buyer at a much higher rate.

Investors were promised a 15 to 20 percent rate of return on investment, generally within 180 days. Adkins would sometimes pay the return on investment for the first transaction with investor victims.

. . .

Adkins used several methods to conceal the scope of the Ponzi scheme and to minimize associated tax liabilities. For example, he and others sent various amounts of investor funds through a long series of wire transfers to many bank accounts. He created more than 15 corporate bank accounts to receive and distribute fraudulently obtained funds from investors.

Adkins also laundered his ill-gotten proceeds for at least five years, including by investing in front businesses created by co-conspirators.

Adkins bought cars, vacations and property with the funds from the scheme. For example, he paid for the construction of a pool at his personal residence and also paid more than $20,000 to lease a private jet.

Further, Adkins failed to file individual income tax returns reporting his income derived from the scheme. In 2013, specifically, Adkins earned at least $1.1 million, which caused a tax loss of nearly $237,000 to the IRS. . .