On January 28, 2025, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas entered final judgments against Thurman P. Bryant, III, Bryant United Capital Funding, Inc., Arthur F. Wammel, and Wammel Group, LLC.
The entries of the final judgments resolve all claims arising out of the SEC’s complaint, filed on May 15, 2017, and amended on January 26, 2018.
The amended complaint alleged that Bryant and Bryant United fraudulently raised $22.7 million from investors based on false promises of guaranteed investment returns in the mortgage industry.
The amended complaint also alleged that Wammel and Wammel Group operated a related $44.7 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded Bryant’s investors and others.
The amended complaint charged defendants with violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder.
The district court’s final judgments ordered the defendants to pay disgorgement with prejudgment interest and permanently enjoined the defendants from future violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws identified above.
Specifically, the court ordered: (a)Bryant and Bryant United to pay, jointly and severally, disgorgement of $4,290,830.71, plus prejudgment interest thereon in the amount of $162,899.10; and (b) Wammel and Wammel Group to pay, jointly and severally, disgorgement of $5,989,605.50, plus prejudgment interest thereon in the amount of $227,392.17.
The final judgments deemed these disgorgement and prejudgment amounts satisfied by the amount collected by a court-appointed receiver and distributions to investors and by the restitution of $9,103,088.12 ordered against Bryant in United States v. Bryant, No. 4:17-cr-00213-ALM-CAN-1 (E.D. Tex.) and against Wammel in United States v. Wammel, No. 4:17-cr-00213-ALM-KPJ-2 (E.D. Tex.).
The litigation was led by Jason P. Reinsch and supervised by Keefe M. Bernstein. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Mr. Reinsch and Carol Stumbaugh and supervised by Barbara Gunn.
