Brian Gilder and Darryl Cohen Arrested
On March 23, 2023, the Department of Justice announced the arrests of Brian Gilder, Darryl Cohen, Charles Briscoe and Calvin Darden, Jr. in connection with two schemes that defrauded professional basketball players. If you invested with any of these individuals, MDF Law may be able to help you recover your losses. Please call 800-767-8040 and asks to speak with attorney Marc Fitapelli for more information.
300% Markup on Life Insurance Investments
Viatical life settlements are life insurance policies that are sold to investors. Typically, the investor will pay the insured a lump sum payment in exchange for taking over the contract. Darryl Cohen and Brian Gilder marketed viatical life settlements to investors, but secretly profited from the deals. According to the unsealed indictment, Cohen and Gilder secretly marked-up the price of the contracts by as much as 400% – earning millions of dollars in the process.
FBI: Attorney Trust Account Looted by Cohen and Gilder
The indictment also states that Darryl Cohen and Brian Gilder misappropriated money from athletes. The money was transferring into an attorney trust account. The account was secretly controlled by Brian Gilder, who was a signatory on the attorney trust account. According to the FBI, Gilder and Cohen stole money from the attorney trust account and used it to benefit themselves by paying off personal debt.
Darryl Cohen Formerly Associated with Morgan Stanley
Defendant, Darryl Cohen, was associated with the brokerage firm Morgan Stanley from June 2015 until April 2021, when he was terminated. After he was terminated, Morgan Stanley placed this disclosure on Mr. Cohen’s securities license, “Allegations relating to the representative’s facilitation of outside client business and transactions not disclosed to or approved by Morgan Stanley and use of an unapproved platform to engage in inappropriate communications with clients.”
On December 30, 2021, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, barred Darryl Cohen from associating with any member firm. The bar resulted from Cohen’s refusal to cooperate with an investigation into his conduct.