WASHINGTON D.C.
A federal grand jury returned an indictment Thursday against a former attorney, charging her with duping investors out of $2 million through the Baylor & Jackson trust account, officials announced Friday.
Brynee Baylor, a former partner in the District of Columbia firm of Baylor & Jackson, is accused of conspiracy, securities fraud, obstruction of justice and failure to timely file tax returns and pay taxes, all federal offenses, officials said.
The indictment alleges that Baylor conspired with Frank Pavlico, a Pennsylvania man and his company known as Milan Group, to recruit investors for a trading program that promised extremely large profits in a short period of time with little or no risk.
The program was sometimes called a private placement and involved the use of trading platforms and monetizing and leasing foreign bank instruments, according to federal officials.
According to the indictment, in 2010 and 2011, Baylor caused more than $2 million of investor funds to pass through the Baylor & Jackson trust account.
More than half of the investor funds went for the benefit of Baylor, the Pennsylvania man, Milan Group and Baylor & Jackson.
Baylor falsely assured investors that the trading program was legitimate, that it had little, if any, risk. She said she had observed investors successfully complete transactions with Milan Group. In reality, Milan Group failed to complete any such transactions and failed to return any of the money invested, according to the indictment.
In 2011, officials allege that the Securities and Exchange Commission or SEC sued Baylor and others for fraud in connection with the purported trading program. The indictment alleges that Baylor endeavored to obstruct justice in the SEC case by making false statements in depositions and in an affidavit.
Baylor appeared on The Real Housewives of Potomac, according to the 2paragraphs.com.
It’s been a tough year for Brynee, too. The mother of four daughters used to be a lawyer but was disbarred in July 2015. She says she got caught up with a fraudulent client (Frank Pavlico) who had “used my representation and firm like a pawn in a chess match.” Pavlico was accused of defrauding 13 investors of nearly $3 million, according to 2paragraphs.