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Secretary of State Robin Carnahan’s office has issued a Cease and Desist order against a local certified public accountant. KSMU’s Jennifer Moore has details.
Carnahan came to Springfield Thursday afternoon to announce that her office is investigating a local accountant and two of his companies for alleged securities fraud.
"The one that's happening that we're talking about right now in Springfield is one that's an investigation of a gentleman by the name of Murphy Hubbard," Carnahan said. "He's a local certified public accountant. He's being investigated for lying, and providing bad information to his clients, for selling unregistered investments, and for taking personal savings of his clients for his own use."
The investigation centers around two Springfield-area investors, both in their seventies, who say they put $250,000 into a trust fund for their grandchildren over three decades. That trust is now worth less than $50,000. The order maintains that Hubbard poorly managed the account and wrote thousands of dollars in checks to his own company.
Carnahan added that Hubbard's companies, the Hubbard Group, and the Holding Group International, were not registered with the Securities Division, as is required by law.
The order states that Hubbard had another cease and desist order in 1998, and that his CPA license was put on probation for three years is 2003.
Carnahan is asking for anyone who has used this accounting firm’s services to contact her office.
Neither Hubbard nor his attorney could be reached by phone for comment.
For KSMU News, I'm Jennifer Moore
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