North Texas women, company ordered to stop alleged fraudulent real estate dealings
The Texas State Securities Board issued an emergency cease and desist order on Tuesday barring White Settlement resident Barbara George and her company from selling securities, stating that the PB & Associates LLC managing member engaged in fraud and withheld information from investors.
PB & Associates is a Texas-based limited liability company.
According to the order, George, also known as Barbara Troutman, allegedly failed to disclose to investors that in 2008 she was charged with two counts of a first-degree felony offense of aggravated sexual assault of a child under 14 years old. In March 2009, she pleaded guilty to one charge and had to register as a sex offender for life.
George and managing member Patricia Coleman, of Krum, Texas, are also allegedly misleading investors by not disclosing assets and liabilities of PB & Associates, its operating history and revenue, and proof of its claims regarding return on investments, according to the order.
George placed an ad on Craigslist advertising the company’s services in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the order states.
“PB & Associates claims to focus primarily on real estate investing in the market of ‘Fix and Flips, Long-term Rentals, and Wholesaling,’” the order states, and were “offering for sale promissory notes to generate capital from investments in real estate projects.”
The company claimed that a $5,000 investment would generate a 10% return and a $60,000 investment would generate an 8% return in six months to a year, the order states. The ad also claimed the investment funds plus interest would be paid back within seven days of the closing of the property.
The order also noted registration violations. George and Coleman have not been registered with the securities commissioner as dealers, and the offered loan agreements have not been registered and no permit has been granted for their sale in Texas, the order states.
