A San Antonio-based financial advisor and radio broadcaster faces decades in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding numerous clients of millions in funds.
Last week, Brooklynn Chandler Willy pleaded guilty to 10 counts of investment fraud in Texas federal court. According to the Department of Justice, Willy owned the San Antonio-based Queen B Advisors (d/b/a Texas Financial Advisors), which offered asset management and financial planning services.
According to SEC records, Willy first registered in 2014 at Global Financial Private Capital, with brief stints at J.W. Cole Financial Advisors before forming Texas Financial Advisory in 2020. SEC records indicate J.W. Cole fired Willy for “violation of firm policies regarding participation in unapproved private securities transactions.”
In addition to her advisory practice, Willy offered financial advice on radio shows broadcast on numerous Texas radio stations, as well as local TV programs, according to the San Antonio Current (the radio stations reportedly dropped her programs after she was arrested).
According to the DOJ, in 2018, Willy recommended that a married couple invest funds in an investment company called Ferrum Capital, and in 2021, advised the same couple to invest $500,000 in another Ferrum entity.
However, Ferrum was purportedly a scam, run by co-defendants Joshua Allen and Michael Cox (who have jury trials scheduled for August). The duo ran four investment companies, and according to KBCD News, the company is facing numerous lawsuits accusing them of running a multi-million-dollar Ponzi scheme.
According to the DOJ, Willy used the $500,000 from the couple for her own purposes, including paying off credit cards and payments to other investors and to another business she owned.
Willy also convinced a separated married couple to invest about $2 million in an associate’s company, alleging that the investment would be used to purchase bad debt and for other investments. Again, Willy used the money to make payments to herself and her associate, and continued the scheme by repaying other investors.
Willy also convinced other clients to invest $75,000 and $600,000 in what she claimed were legitimate business investments, but she also used this money for her own benefit. Once the Federal Bureau of Investigation began looking into the scheme, Willy forged the signatures of several of her clients and gave the falsified documents to federal investigators.
According to the San Antonio Express-News, Willy confessed during Thursday’s hearing, telling a federal judge that she “was a crook,” and “was very sorry.” Some of her victims were in the courtroom, with one woman yelling at Willy, “I hope you rot in prison,” after the proceedings ended.
Willy faces up to 20 years in prison on six counts of wire fraud and money laundering, as well as up to 10 years for engaging in transactions in property derived from the scheme, and a minimum of two years for identity theft, which would run consecutively to the other punishments.
