Jackson Jambalaya

The Mississippi Secretary of State's office began posting violations of Mississippi securities and charities laws and regulations on its website this week. Such postings will include Cease and Desist Orders and Consent Orders issued by the Securities & Charities Division. Jackson Jambalaya pointed out last month Mississippi was one of only eleven states not posting such information online. The SEC and FINRA post all violations online as well. The new section can be found here.

This is a very important development in protecting Mississippi investors and those who donate to charities. For too long investors have suffered because they were not able to easily see if potential scam artists had been disciplined by the state, as they could only file a public records request and wait fifteen business days for a response. Such a request assumes of course that the the investor already had a suspicion of violations in the first place.

A perfect example of how this website can help investors is the Steadivest case. The State fined Marshall Wolfe, one of the main principals in the Steadivest companies, $10,000 in 2005 and suspended his license for six months. The Cease and Desist Order spelled out how he sold unregistered securities in violation of state law and also violated the trust placed in him by two consecutive employers. A group of investors lost millions of dollars investing in his Steadivest Companies and are currently suing him and other defendants for allegedly defrauding them. (See sidebar at lower right for collection of all Steadivest posts.) Such information would have undoubtedly helped the investors make a better informed decision on whether to give their money to someone who had been disciplined for operating a similar scheme several years earlier. Unfortunately for them, Mr. Wolfe didn't learn anything from his previous experience as the State issued a Cease and Desist Order against Steadivest and named Mr. Wolfe as the main actor in committing fraud upon the investors.

This step by Mr. Hosemann's office is very welcome news in the fight for more transparency in Mississippi government and should be lauded by the business community as well as all Mississippians.