The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Steven M. Sexton and his firm, Sexton Advisory Group, Inc., in federal district court with the unregistered offer and sale of securities and with acting as an unregistered broker in connection with their sale of securities of the Woodbridge Group of Companies, LLC.

The SEC alleges that from May 2016 to November 2017, Sexton and Sexton Advisory sold approximately $4.6 million of Woodbridge's securities to about 63 investors, earning $244,654 in commissions and other compensation from Woodbridge. According to the complaint, neither Sexton nor Sexton Advisory were registered as broker-dealers, and the Woodbridge securities were not sold pursuant to SEC registration or an exemption from registration. The complaint alleges that through their selling activity, Sexton and Sexton Advisory acted as brokers.

The SEC's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, charges Sexton and Sexton Advisory with violations of the securities registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933 and the broker registration provisions of Section 15(a) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934.

Without admitting or denying the allegations of the complaint, Sexton and Sexton Advisory agreed to permanent injunctions against violating the charged provisions. Sexton also agreed to pay a total of approximately $271,792 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest, which will be offset by the approximate $251,827 that Sexton Advisory has already paid to the trustee appointed over Woodbridge in a separate case, leaving a balance of approximately $19,965. Sexton will also pay a $30,000 civil penalty, for a total payment of approximately $49,965, all of which he will pay to the trustee to be distributed to investors as part of a Fair Fund.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by David Rosen and supervised by Spencer Bendell, with litigation assistance by Douglas Miller. The matter arose out of a referral from the Los Angeles Regional Office's examination program with the exam conducted by Mark Tseng and Jon Self and supervised by Christine Connolly.