Business Trial Group Investigates Integrity Aviation & Leasing for Defrauding Investors

Morgan & Morgan’s securities attorneys are investigating an alleged $14 million fraudulent scheme involving Integrity Aviation & Leasing (IAL), which allegedly victimized many San Antonio police officers and other first responders.

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced charges against a San Antonio-area businessman, Victor Lee Farias, and his company, IAL, for allegedly defrauding investors.  According to the SEC’s complaint, Farias and IAL raised $14 million from investors.  The SEC alleges that Farias and IAL told investors it would use the investor funds to purchase engines and aircraft parts for leasing to major airlines.   The SEC further claims that Farias and IAL falsely represented Farias’s purported investment experience and IAL’s supposed competitive advantages, such as an algorithm that would identify profitable leasing opportunities.

According to the SEC, IAL never purchased any engines and used only a small amount of investor funds to purchase of aircraft parts.  Instead, the SEC alleges that Farias and IAL used more than $11 million of investor funds for improper purposes, including making $6.5 million in Ponzi-like payments to investors and investing $2.7 million in a friend’s business.  Farias also purportedly misappropriated $2.4 million for personal expenses.

According to the SEC, many of the victims were San Antonio police officers and other first responders who used funds from their retirement accounts to invest with IAL.

The SEC alleges that many investors moved funds from traditional retirement accounts to self-directed IRAs to make their investments.   According to David Peavler, Regional Director of the SEC’s Fort Worth Office, “Investors should always proceed cautiously whenever someone suggests moving funds from traditional retirement accounts to self-directed IRAs in order to make an investment.”

The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy previously issued an investor alert on the risks associated with use of self-directed IRAs.

The SEC’s complaint charges Farias and IAL with violating antifraud and federal securities laws. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement, and civil penalties.

If you have suffered losses relating to Farias’s or IAL’s alleged fraud, we are here to help.  Contact us at 800-816-1031 today to speak with an experienced securities attorney at Morgan & Morgan’s Business Trial Group.

The Business Trial Group at Morgan & Morgan helps investors recover their losses on a contingency basis.  We are only paid if we successfully recover money for you.  We have helped investors recover tens of millions of dollars of investment losses.

The Business Trial Group is part of the largest contingency law firm in the nation, with more than 700 lawyers and offices nationwide.