Broker Refutes SEC Fraud Complaint in Wymer Deals

Securities dealer Daniel Osborn denied Friday that he received fraudulent commissions while a business associate of convicted swindler Steven D. Wymer, as alleged in a civil complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC on Monday alleged that Osborn, through his broker-dealer DLO Securities Inc., formerly of Irvine, had charged excessive and undisclosed markups in transactions with Wymer’s Institutional Treasury Management Inc.

Osborn’s attorney, Gene Harter, said the government’s case is “an outrageous case of guilt by association” and denied that Osborn, an Irvine resident, violated securities laws.

But SEC attorney Kelly Bowers said Friday the agency stands by its complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court that alleges Osborn collected undisclosed markups in two transactions and paid Wymer “kickbacks” after concealing that Wymer had paid Osborn to establish his broker dealership.

Wymer pleaded guilty in 1992 to engineering a massive fraud involving small government agencies, including several in Orange County. Authorities characterized the fraud as “one of the most significant and financially devastating” cases of its kind.

Harter, however, maintained that Wymer, who is serving a 14-year prison sentence, was paid nothing by Osborn or his company.

“The SEC has all of the canceled checks of both DLO Securities and of David Osborn individually and there’s not a single check going to Wymer or any affiliate of Wymer,” Harter said.

Other government agency audits of the transactions cited by the SEC found Osborn to be in compliance with the law, Harter said.

The SEC is seeking a permanent injunction against Osborn to prohibit him from future violations of the securities law and to recover all “ill-gotten gains derived from Osborn’s unlawful activity.”