The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a civil complaint in federal court against a San Rafael financial investment firm for its alleged role in soliciting over 1,200 investors into a $330 million Ponzi scheme.
Dow Rockwell LLC, with its sole principal Richard Dow Rockwell, 62, of Marin County, is accused of defrauding investors who provided funds to Ken Casey and former CEO Lewis Wallach as part of what authorities describe as a Ponzi scheme at their Novato firms, Professional Financial Investors and Professional Investors Securities Fund.
Reached at his San Rafael office at 1101 Fifth Ave. on Tuesday, Rockwell said on advice from legal counsel he has declined to comment on the allegation or whether he remains in business.
“We are trying to settle the matter with the SEC,” he said.
Casey died of a heart attack in May 2020, which prompted a whirlwind sequence of events. Casey’s two firms underwent an audit that produced accounting irregularities, thrust PFI into bankruptcy court, prompted a $436 million property selloff and landed Wallach a fraud conviction last year.
This latest legal wrangling filed March 31 in U.S. District Court in San Francisco dictates, that from 2017 through 2020, Rockwell, through his firm, raised about $8 million for PFI by recommending and selling securities to his clients. According to that court filing, Rockwell’s firm earned about $400,000 in referral fees from PFI for this service but failed to disclose the…
