TDS Group CEO Robert Lotter Hit With Additional Fraud Charges
TDS Group CEO Robert Lotter Hit With Additional Fraud Charges
Nearly two dozen additional alleged victims uncovered
California’s largest provider of compliance services to teachers has been arrested again on new fraud charges. Robert Lotter and his accomplice, Charles Major, were charged with allegedly defrauding 22 more victims.
"My Department's continued investigation into this alleged securities fraud has uncovered nearly two dozen new victims in this far-reaching scam, which now includes 44 victims who lost $7 million,” said Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. “By allegedly scheming to obtain victims' private information and push them into high-risk investments, these insurance agents took advantage of their position of trust and fiduciary responsibility."
TDS Group works with hundreds of school districts in California, though they don’t actually do compliance, as their website clearly claims. TDS outsources the compliance work to The OMNI Group, a US Retirement Partners company based in New York. TDS Group is designed to provide access to Lotter and his affiliates to California school employees in order to sell them financial products.
Lotter has an insurance agency named RA Lotter Insurance and Marketing, this is where the real money is made and allegedly, where the fraud occurred.
“Lotter's insurance agency led several victims to believe the agency was authorized or affiliated with the California State Teacher's Retirement System (CalSTRS) that provides retirement pension advice to California public school educators. Some victims did not discover it was not authorized or affiliated with CalSTRS until after they had invested substantial funds in eAgency, Inc. and Mymobilewatchdog, Inc.”
This is a common tactic of 403(b) salespeople, pretend to be from the school district or the state teacher’s retirement system.
We will be following the trial (should it occur) and providing all the details.
One more thing, those companies that Lotter was selling fraudulently…are still being advertised and linked to from the TDS Group home page.
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/story/2021-05-18/two-dozen-more-fraud-charges-filed-against-newport-beach-insurance-agent
http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2021/release054-2021.cfm