(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced charges against Brook Church-Koegel, David H. Goldman, and Nicole J. Walker, three California-based internal sales agents for Woodbridge Group of Companies LLC, for illegally selling Woodbridge securities in unregistered transactions to retail investors in numerous states while acting as unregistered brokers.

According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately June 2014 to December 2017, Church-Koegel, Goldman, and Walker sold and assisted others in selling approximately $444 million in Woodbridge securities in unregistered transactions to thousands of predominantly elderly investors. The complaint alleges that Church-Koegel, Goldman, and Walker were among Woodbridge’s largest revenue-producing internal sales agents, and Church-Koegel and Goldman eventually became “team leaders,” who assisted sales agents throughout the United States. As alleged, the defendants reaped significant transaction-based compensation from these unlawful sales, with Church-Koegel and Goldman receiving more than $1 million each, and Walker receiving more than $750,000. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the Southern District of Florida, charges Church-Koegel, Goldman, and Walker with violating the securities registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933 and the broker-dealer registration provisions of Section 15(a)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and seeks disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against each of them