At age 19, Jacob Wohl has had significantly more life experiences than the average teenager. Jacob Wohl claimed to have been trading since he was 10 years old, according to government documents, much of it occurring while he went to high school and played football. After making questionable performance claims and involved in missing client assets, the Chicago-based National Futures Association banned the teen from membership for life. Now the “Wohl of Wall Street,” as he was described in national media reports, has new problems. On Monday, the state of Arizona has issued a cease and desist order, alleging fraud.
Where should you start a business? I think somewhere that’s sunny. Bad weather is depressing, kills energy levels
— Jacob Wohl (@JacobAWohl) March 7, 2017
Arizona says Wohl misled investors
The Arizona Corporation Commission charged Jacob Wohl and Matthew Johnson along with a host of Wohl managed firms with “Fraud in Connection with the Offer or Sale of Securities,” stating they “misled” investors on several levels.
The complaint states Wohl engaged in public advertising to recruit investors and then misled them when describing his firm and the investment. Wohl made investment profit guarantees and then when the investor provided investment capital and asked for it returned, it was not returned in full.
In one instance, Montgomery Assets, Inc., a Wyoming registered corporation operating with a Beverly Hills, CA address, placed an advertisement on the online classified website Craigslist under the Phoenix, AZ category under “financial services.” The ad was titled “Conservative Real Estate Investing 10% Reliable Return.”
Other advertisements in the same category were titled “”High Yield Notes — Safe and Secure” and “”Conservative Investment Firm — Accepting New Clients.”
The real estate classified ad stated that Montgomery had 30 years’ experience investing in California real estate, claiming to renovate and sell homes in 4 weeks at a “15% to 45% net profit.” The firm listed “global offices” in Hong Kong, Dubai and Geneva but the complaint says they “never conducted operations there.”
The complaint states that Montgomery is not licensed by the California Bureau of Real Estate or the Arizona Department of Real Estate as a broker or in any other capacity.
Jacob Wohl has 30 days to respond
With another Arizona investor, Wohl claimed that “a textbook trade” for Wohl Capital Investment Group “had a 99.5% probability of profit” and is later accused of misleading the investor that the firm had delivered a 23% return on investment in the first quarter of 2015.
Other charges include:
Wohl and WCIG falsely represented to Investor 1 that only 20 percent of his investment would be at risk, yet lost approximately 50 percent of his Investor 1’s account value between December 2015 and January 2016.
Wohl and WCIG falsely represented to Investor 1 that WCIG managed between $9 million and $10 million in assets, but actually managed less than $500,000.
Wohl and Johnson were ordered to pay restitution of $32,918.72 and $5,000 for each violation of securities law, as well as $1,000 for each violation of the state’s IM Act. Wohl and Johnson have been given 30 days to respond to the motion. If Wohl doesn’t pay the fines and fraud is found, there is potential to refer the case to the Arizona Attorney General.
