President of Florida-Based Investment Firm Pleads Guilty to Role in Unregistered Broker Scheme

BOSTON – The president of a now-defunct investment firm targeting retail investors pleaded guilty yesterday to assisting an unregistered broker who sold securities in exchange for an undisclosed commission of approximately 40 percent.

Clinton Greyling, 49, of Tamarac, Fla., pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and abetting an unregistered broker. Greyling was charged in an Information filed July 30, 2024.  U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for Dec. 11, 2024.

Greyling was the president of Trends Investments, Inc., a now-shuttered Florida-based company that sold securities of fledgling public companies that were engaged in mergers. Between February 2017 and June 2019, Trends sold shares of multiple companies to retail investors throughout the United States. Greyling touted the companies as promising because they were supposedly about to enter new and exciting business lines, including in therapeutic cannabinoids and blockchain technology. To sell the securities, Trends engaged a former registered broker, who solicited prospective customers to buy shares by falsely holding himself out as a broker and wealth manager and by telling customers that the securities were promising investments. At Greyling’s direction, Trends paid the individual—who was no longer registered as a broker with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission, as required—an undisclosed commission of approximately 40 percent, totaling over $800,000 on over $1.9 million in sales. Greyling further assisted the individual by providing positive information about the companies, including information about when the companies’ securities would purportedly begin active trading on the over-the-counter market. Trends, however, ultimately did not timely deliver shares to customers and the promised investment returns did not materialize. The shares sold to investors were ultimately worthless as a practical matter, as the customers were generally unable to deposit or trade them in a timely manner.    

The charge of aiding and abetting an unregistered broker provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $5,000,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Jodi Cohen, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division, made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney James R. Drabick of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit is prosecuting the case.