ALICE, Texas (AP) — A businessman not licensed to sell securities in Texas must serve 15 years in prison in a $5 million stock-trading scam.
Michael Anthony Collins of Alice must also repay $3 million in what prosecutors call a Ponzi scheme.
The Texas State Securities Board on Monday announced the penalty for Collins, who earlier pleaded guilty to securities fraud, theft and money laundering. He was sentenced in Alice, about 40 miles west of Corpus Christi.
Records show his Collins Financial Group of Alice sold investment plans since 2013.
Collins was last registered to sell securities in Texas in 2008. Collins, who was arrested a year ago, also failed to disclose that the IRS in 2013 filed a $74,000 tax lien against him and another individual.