SEC Says DC Lawyer Helped Bilk Investors of $2M, Spent on Jimmy Choos, Bahamas Trip
A Washington, D.C., lawyer has been accused by the feds of helping a convicted felon bilk 13 would-be investors of $2.1 million in an alleged scheme that used her status as an attorney to cloak it in legitimacy.
Name partner Brynee K. Baylor, 37, of Baylor & Jackson also helped prepare fictitious documents to support claims that high returns were being generated in complex transactions involving the purported lease and trading of foreign bank instruments, alleges the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in a federal lawsuit (PDF). It was filed Nov. 30 in Washington, D.C., and unsealed yesterday, reports the Blog of Legal Times.
Baylor, who also allegedly vouched for her co-defendant, Frank Pavlico III, and his company, the Milan Group, spent money on luxuries including Jimmy Choo shoes and a trip to the Bahamas, the suit says.
“Pavlico and Baylor produced paperwork dotted with legal-sounding gibberish designed to deceive investors into believing this is a highly sophisticated investment opportunity,” said Stephen Cohen of the SEC’s enforcement division in a press release. “This case is particularly egregious because attorneys hold a special position of trust, and Baylor and her law firm cloaked the Milan investment in the guise of licensed legal services to deceive investors and steal their money.”
The BLT article doesn’t include any comment from Baylor or her legal counsel.
