U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 19759 / July 13, 2006
Geoffrey A. Gish; Weston Rutledge Financial Services, Inc.; Zamindari Capital, LLC; Lexington International Fund, LLC a/k/a Lexington International Fund, Inc.; and Oxford Adams Capital, LLC, Civil Action No. 1:06-CV-1171 (NDGA)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) announced that on June 30, 2006, the Honorable Clarence Cooper, United States District Judge for the Northern District of Georgia, entered an order of preliminary injunction and other relief as to defendants Geoffrey A. Gish; Weston Rutledge Financial Services, Inc. (Weston Rutledge); Zamindari Capital, LLC; (Zamindari); Lexington International Fund, LLC a/k/a Lexington International Fund, Inc. (Lexington); and Oxford Adams Capital, LLC (Oxford Adams). The order restrained and enjoined the defendants from future violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The order further restrained and enjoined Gish from future violations or aiding and abetting violations of Section 206 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
The defendants consented to the entry of this order without admitting or denying the allegations set forth in the Commission's complaint, filed on May 17, 2006. The complaint alleged that from February 2004 through the present, Gish, a resident of Roswell, Georgia, and the other defendants, fraudulently sold at least $8.8 million of securities to over 100 investors located in several states. The complaint alleged that Gish offered and sold these securities through fraudulent investment programs that he named Zamindari, Lexington, and Oxford Adams, and operated these programs as a Ponzi scheme. Gish lured investors with offering materials that falsely suggested that each program had historically generated returns ranging from 44% to over 100% per year. Gish also told investors, falsely, that there was no risk of loss with these investments. The compliant alleged that from November 2005 to the filing of the complaint, Gish diverted approximately $100,000 from investors to his personal bank account, and has diverted another $100,000 to his firm, Weston Rutledge, and used those funds to pay miscellaneous personal and other expenses. The complaint further alleged that Gish and Weston Rutledge sent investors account statements with completely fictitious rates of return.