William Andrew Stack, Esq.

On March 10, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas entered a final judgment against William Andrew Stack, an attorney and nominal CEO of Preston Corp. (a/k/a Preston Royalty Corp.), a now-defunct financial services provider for the mining industry, enjoining him from violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws.

According to the SEC's complaint, filed on January 15, 2021, Preston Corp. purported to be a financial services provider specializing in royalty financing for mining operations, but in reality had no actual operations. The complaint alleges that Stack, a licensed lawyer who had no experience in the mining industry, served as Preston Corp.'s nominal CEO at the behest of the company's undisclosed control person, who had previously been charged by the SEC in another, similar fraud.

The SEC's complaint further alleges that while serving as the company's figurehead CEO, Stack issued four press releases that materially misled investors, falsely claiming, among other things, that Preston Corp. had entered into a royalty agreement with a third party, and that it had entered into a "gold mine agreement" with a third party. Preston Corp. allegedly publicized these press releases while the company and Stack conducted an unregistered distribution of its common stock to retail investors. Stack allegedly misappropriated the proceeds of the offering, diverting the money largely to himself and to the undisclosed control person.

The final judgment imposed permanent injunctions prohibiting Stack from violating 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(b); imposed a five year officer-and-director bar, a five-year penny stock bar, and, for a period of five years, a bar prohibiting Stack from providing professional legal services relating to Regulation D or other exemptions from the registration provision of the Securities Act. The final judgment further orders Stack to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest totaling $438,103.21 and a $333,110 million civil penalty.

The SEC's litigation was conducted by Alexander M. Vasilescu and Jason D. Schall, and was supervised by Thomas P. Smith, Jr.