Des Moines – Iowa Insurance Commissioner Doug Ommen recently issued a lengthy final order against Elite Wealth Partners, LLC (Elite Wealth), Cory J. Dawkins, and EWP Permian Basin Fund II, LLC for various conduct that was fraudulent, deceptive, manipulative, dishonest and unethical.
“The Iowa Insurance Division is committed to hold bad actors accountable for their actions and pursuing relief for victims,” Iowa Department of Insurance and Financial Services COO Chance McElhaney said. “The order issued last week will provide restitution to those Iowans that were harmed by Cory Dawkins, Elite Wealth Partners, and the EWP Permian Basin Fund II.”
Elite Wealth, Dawkins, and EWP Permian Basin Fund II, LLC were jointly ordered to pay $2,371,618.16 in restitution to 15 individual or married couple Iowa investors as well as pay $52,643.65 in costs for investigation and prosecution.
The final order found that Elite Wealth, Dawkins, and EWP Permian Basin Fund II, LLC engaged in fraudulent conduct, unregistered securities conduct, and conduct that constitutes grounds for discipline of Elite Wealth’s and Dawkins’s registrations as an investment adviser and investment adviser representative, and insurance producer. The final order found numerous violations of securities laws related to the unregistered securities offered, sold, and issued to each of the fifteen Iowa investors. These violations, include but are not limited to, findings that Elite Wealth and Dawkins breached their fiduciary duty to exercise reasonable diligence, care, and skill by advising and recommending their clients invest in unregistered, non-exempt, high risk securities and by not determining that each investor had access to material information and possessed the level of knowledge and experience needed to invest the unregistered high risk and illiquid investments, placing an excessive concentration of investor assets into a high risk and illiquid unregistered investment.
The final order revokes the following effective immediately:
- Revokes Dawkins’ investment adviser representative registration effective immediately.
- Revokes Dawkins’ insurance producer license effective immediately.
- Revokes Elite Wealth’s investment adviser registration effective immediately.
- Revokes Elite Wealth’s insurance producer license effective immediately.
- Permanently bars and prohibits EWP Permian Basin Fund II from issuing, offering, or selling any securities in Iowa.
The final order also includes prohibitions on Elite Wealth, Dawkins, and EWP Permian Basin Fund II from employing any device, scheme, or artifice to defraud and from making any statement of material fact or omitting any material fact that makes the statements misleading.
Iowans with questions or concerns about investments can contact the Iowa Insurance Division at 877-955-1212 or at iid.iowa.gov.