Gary Lane Pleads Guilty to Investment Fraud Scheme

Gary H. Lane, 60, of Reno, pleaded guilty on Tuesday, September 3, 2013, to 12 counts of mail fraud and five counts of attempt to evade or defeat tax. Gary Lane, a former financial adviser with Bank of America, has also pleaded guilty to defrauding six clients of more than $2 million during 2010 and 2011. Gary Lane is scheduled to be sentenced on December 16, 2013, and faces up to 20 years in prison for each mail fraud count and up to five years in prison on each tax count, as well as fines of up to $250,000 per count. Lane was employed as a financial adviser by Bank of America Investment Services, which later merged with Merrill Lynch, until March 2011.

According to the information presented, Lane allegedly developed a scheme to entice clients, many of whom were elderly or lacked investment experience, to invest with him through the use of an E-Trade account rather than through normal bank procedures. Lane told the investors, who were not interested in high risk investments, that their funds would be invested in United States Treasury Bonds, which would pay more than six percent interest and would mature in two years, which never existed. Gary Lane created false confirmations and distributed them to the victims by mail. Allegedly, Lane gave the money from his clients to his spouse, who mailed it to her E-Trade account. The money was then used for Lane's own use or to pay other investors. Lane never purchased any United States Treasury Bonds with the victims’ money.

Soreide Law Group initially brought attention to Gary Lane in our website blog on www.securitieslawyer.com, entitled, “ATTENTION CLIENTS OF GARY LANE,” dated October 7, 2011.

Securities Attorney, Lars Soreide, of Soreide Law Group, PLLC, was recently quoted in an article from the Reno Gazette-Journal, written by Jaclyn O’Malley regarding former broker Gary Harrison Lane. The quote reads as follows:

“Florida securities attorney Lars Soreide said Tuesday he has represented a few clients who have recently settled with broker firms connected to Lane, that he accused of negligently supervising Lane’s activities and “selling away” investments. He said he could not give specifics because the civil cases were resolved under confidential agreements. Soreide said had the brokers properly supervised Lane, they would have uncovered the fraud.”

Lars Soreide has successfully settled the claims in favor of his clients though a FINRA arbitration.

If you or a loved one experienced financial losses because of Gary Harrison Lane, call Soreide Law Group, and speak to an attorney regarding potential recovery of your losses at 888-760-6552.