Ex-attorney who worked for SEC in Fort Worth convicted of fraud

Posted Wednesday, Feb. 03, 2010 Comments   (0)  Print Share Share Reprints
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By DARREN BARBEE

dbarbee@star-telegram.com

A former Fort Worth Securities and Exchange Commission attorney who once went after fraudsters used his experience and knowledge of the agency's laws to bilk investors of out millions, federal officials said.

Phillip Windom Offill Jr., 51, was convicted last week in Virginia of one count of conspiracy to commit registration violations, securities fraud and nine counts of wire fraud for participating in a stock manipulation scheme. He faces up to 20 years in prison for each of the nine wire fraud counts.

Offill, who practiced law in Dallas, is subject to forfeiting $15 million, a 2001 Harley-Davidson motorcycle and a 1972 Porsche 911.

Offill is in custody. His attorney, Kevin Brehm, an assistant federal public defender, said that an appeal will be filed after Offill is sentenced in April. "We will file an appeal, we just can't do it yet," Brehm said. A woman reached by phone who identified herself as a relative of Offill declined to comment.

"As a former SEC lawyer, Mr. Offill knew the law -- and he intentionally broke it and tried to hide his crimes," said U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride of the Eastern District of Virginia. "He and his co-conspirators made millions while innocent investors were left with stock in worthless companies."

Offill was accused of manipulating the stock prices and volume of three companies by promoting them through misleading news releases and by sending spam e-mails to tens of millions of addresses.

The goal of the so-called "pump and dump" scheme was to create a spike in demand for the stock, inflate its price and then dump shares by selling them for large profits to the general investing public, according to the SEC.

Ten other defendants have pleaded guilty, and eight of them have been sentenced in federal court in Alexandria, Va., for their roles in related stock manipulation schemes.

A Fort Worth SEC official said Offill's positions at the Fort Worth office included branch chief in enforcement and trial attorney from August 1989 to November 1999.

Texas Bar Association records show Offill's license to practice law was suspended from May 2008 to April 2011. State bar officials said they did not know why Offill had been sanctioned.

"It is a sad day when a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney uses what he learned in the government to later defraud the investing public," said Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer of the Criminal Division in Virginia.

DARREN BARBEE, 817-390-7126

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