Fraud News Graphic

Florida company pays $100,000 into Missouri Investor Protection Fund; returns money to Missouri investor

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s Securities Division issued a consent order against Florida-based WCO Holdings, LLC, and a top executive after allegedly defrauding investors in several states, including Missouri.  Between February 1, 2016, and December 31, 2019, WCO Holdings and managing member Alan K. Brooks sold $700,000 of unregistered, non-exempt promissory notes through unregistered Las […]

Quail standing on a log

Blunt sponsors bipartisan senate effort to protect wildlife

U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Martin Heinrich (N.M.) introduced the bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA) of 2021 to invest in proactive, on-the-ground conservation work led by states, territories, and Tribal nations to support the long-term health of fish and wildlife habitat all across America. “Missouri is home to some of the best hunting, […]

Medical Marijuana

Securities division orders medical marijuana company to pay back Missouri investors

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s Securities Division issued a consent order against Green Clinic, LLC, after selling unregistered, non-exempt securities to Missouri residents. Green Clinic was established in response to the November 2018 Missouri constitutional amendment creating the Missouri Medical Marijuana Program.   From November 2018 to November 2019, Green Clinic sold $520,000 of unregistered securities […]

Intelligance Community News Graphic

Coalition of lawmakers introduce Intelligence Community Workforce Agility Protection Act

Senator Roy Blunt (Mo.), a member of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, helped introduce the Intelligence Community Workforce Agility Protection Act of 2021. Currently, active-duty members of the military can deduct certain moving expenses from their federal taxes, but that benefit does not extend to intelligence community professionals. The bipartisan bill would expand the […]

Chicken CAFO (Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash)

While Cedar County, Missouri awaits ruling in CAFO lawsuit, a large chicken operation moves in

(Missouri Independent) – When the attorney general’s office asked a judge in 2019 to lift a temporary restraining order blocking a Missouri law pre-empting county regulations on concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, that were stricter than the state’s, the argument was straightforward. No one was trying to build a large animal feeding operation in Cedar […]

Restitution News Graphic

Missouri Attorney General obtains $26,000 in restitution for victims of Buchanan County contractor

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced that Kansas-City-area contractor Brian S. Pummell will pay back over $26,000 in restitution to Missourians who paid Pummell for work he never performed. “Protecting consumers is an important duty of the Attorney General’s Office, and the dedicated investigators, hotline operators, and attorneys in the Consumer Protection Section of my […]

Fraud News Graphic

Missouri man defrauds St. Louis residents out of $81,000

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s Securities Division is seeking penalties and restitution from a Missouri man and his Chesterfield-based company after St. Louis residents were allegedly defrauded out of $81,000.    Between January 2017 and June 2018, Loy Dennis Maxey and his company, Fresh Start Credit Services, LLC, allegedly sold promissory notes and misappropriated a […]

Parson signing new legislation

Governor Parson signs SB 51 into law giving healthcare providers and others protections against COVID-19 related civil action

Governor Mike Parson signed SB 51 into law, which protects health care providers, businesses, religious organizations, and others from being held liable in COVID-19 exposure civil actions.  “When COVID-19 first struck Missouri, health care providers, manufacturers, businesses, churches, schools, and other entities quickly altered their operations to protect public health and accommodate the needs of […]

Audit Graphic

Missouri State Auditor makes recommendations to improve spending practices at Western Cass Fire Protection District

Missouri State Auditor Nicole Galloway released a citizen-requested audit of the Western Cass Fire Protection District, which is located in western Cass County. The audit made recommendations related to spending and budgeting to ensure transparent and effective use of taxpayer dollars. “The citizens served by the Western Cass Fire Protection District requested this audit to […]

Labadie Energy Center on Missouri RIver in Franklin County Missouri

Endangered fish, leaching ash ponds: Environmental groups oppose Missouri coal plant permit

(Missouri Independent) – For years, Lisa Zerbe said she biked, rode horses, and ran near Ameren Missouri’s largest coal-fired power plant in Franklin County because she “naively believed” state environmental regulators were protecting citizens from pollution.  Now, she won’t.  “It is truly a disheartening feeling of betrayal from an agency in my younger years I […]

Scam News Graphic

Sumner couple scammed out of $60.000

Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft’s Securities Division ordered Cutting Edge Supplements, LLC, and Desmond R. Bloss to cease and desist after allegedly misusing a $60,000 investment from a Missouri couple. Between November 28, 2016, and June 30, 2017, Bloss allegedly solicited and received investment monies from a Sumner, Missouri couple to be used for his […]