SEC Charges Texas Investment Firm & CEO with Fraud

© 2017 The Texas Lawbook.By Mark Curriden (May 23) – Katy-based Bryant United Capital Funding and its CEO are operating an illegal real estate mortgage investment scheme that defrauded more than 100 investors out of millions of dollars, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims in documents that were unsealed Friday in federal court in Sherman. The SEC accuses BUCF and its leader, Thurman Bryant III of Frisco, with securities fraud and making false statements to investors. Court records show that Bryant and BUCF raised $22.7 million from more than 100 investors, including $1.4 million during the first four months of 2017. Bryant promised 30 percent annual returns through risk-free investments in the mortgage industry. “Bryant and BUCF promised investors their funds would be safely preserved in a secure escrow account and used for the sole purpose of serving as proof of funds to enable BUCF to secure a line of credit with which to pursue a mortgage-related investment program,” the SEC’s complaint states. But the SEC argues that those promises were false and that nearly $5 million of the $22.7 million funded Bryant’s personal living expenses. “No secure escrow accounts existed, and there was no mortgage-related investment program,” the…