A California-based financial advisor will spend nine years in prison after pleading guilty to defrauding at least 93 victims of more than $9.5 million, according to the Justice Department.
Edwin Emmett Lickiss, Jr. was indicted in July 2025 for a long-running scheme spanning from 1998 through September 2024. Earlier this year, Lickiss, who is based in Danville, Calif., pleaded guilty to one count each of wire fraud and money laundering.
According to court documents, Lickiss owned Foundation Financial Group and worked with clients throughout Northern California, Idaho and the broader United States. According to FINRA, he registered in 1977, with tenures at University Securities and Financial Network Investment Corp.
Most recently, he registered with Investment Architects from 1995 through 2014. That year, FINRA suspended his license for failing to disclose tax liens (he claimed he had forgotten to inform FINRA and had paid the liens in full). However, Lickiss didn’t tell clients he’d been suspended and continued to work with them.
As part of the scheme, Lickiss told clients he’d invest their money in exclusive, tax-free bonds offering return rates as high as 30%, and also said his own family had invested, that he charged no investment fees because he’d profited so heavily, and that investors could redeem their principal at any time.
In reality, there were no bonds. Instead, Lickiss would take the funds from newer investors to pay earlier clients, feigning returns on their investments. He’d also use clients’ funds for personal expenses, including cash withdrawals, home renovations, travel and payments of cars, mortgages and credit card bills.
In the indictment, the DOJ claimed that Lickiss supplied clients with fake promissory notes, including terms for the fictional bands. He’d also try to convince investors to “reinvest” the interest they’d supposedly earned on the bonds (which, in reality, were the payments from newer investors).
When some investors insisted on getting their money, Lickiss would offer excuses for why he couldn’t pay, including family illnesses, banks withholding funds, or being under audit. The Securities and Exchange Commission also filed a civil enforcement action against the 77-year-old Lickiss last year related to the Ponzi scheme.
