Former East Bay financial advisor defrauded at least 93 victims
Faced faces up to 30 years in prison, $500K in fines
By U.S. Attorney’s Office, Northern District of California
OAKLAND – Edwin Emmett Lickiss, Jr., who pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with a decades-long Ponzi scheme, was sentenced today to nine years in federal prison. U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar imposed the sentence.
As previously reported, Lickiss, 78, of Danville, California, admitted that he defrauded at least 93 victims of over $9.5 million from 1998 through September 2024. As part of the scheme, Lickiss said that he would invest victims’ money in exclusive, tax-free bonds that offered rates of return up to 30%. Lickiss also claimed that members of his own family had invested in the bonds, that he charged no investment fees because he had already profited so substantially, and that investors could redeem their money at any time.
In fact, the bonds did not exist. Lickiss funneled money from later victims to pay earlier investors, consistent with a Ponzi scheme. He also siphoned victim funds to pay personal expenses, including cash withdrawals, home renovations, travel, and payments on vehicles, mortgages, and personal credit cards.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) had issued an order barring Lickiss from engaging in any broker-related business from August 18, 2014, through December 17, 2014. Despite the order, Lickiss continued to fraudulently solicit and obtain investments from victims during that period.
According to the IRS, on July 21, 2025, “A federal grand jury indicted Edwin Emmett Lickiss Jr., on one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering in connection with an alleged $9.5 million investment fraud scheme. Despite the suspension and loss of his broker’s license, Lickiss allegedly continued to solicit and obtain investments from victim investors until around September 2024. Lickiss was a financial advisor based in Danville and Alamo, Calif., who owned and operated Foundation Financial Group, a firm that provided investment services to investors in the Northern District of California, Idaho, and throughout the United States.”
Lickiss was released pending the sentencing hearing. He faced a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the wire fraud count, and 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the money laundering count.
In addition, on July 21, 2025, the Securities Exchange Commission charged him with selling fraudulent promissory note investments to approximately 80 investors as part of a Ponzi scheme that lasted over 25 years. According to the SEC’s complaint, Lickiss fraudulently offered and sold to investors approximately $12.7 million in promissory notes, which purported to pay interest rates of between 9 and 32 percent per annum.
United States Attorney Craig H. Missakian, FBI Special Agent in Charge Scott Schelble, and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) San Francisco Field Office Acting Special Agent in Charge David Lowe made the announcement. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has also filed a civil enforcement action against Lickiss in the Northern District of California.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Wolinsky of the Illicit Finance and Money Laundering Section, with the assistance of Lynette Dixon. The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the FBI and IRS-CI. The U.S. Attorney’s Office thanks the Atlanta Regional Office of the SEC for its assistance in the investigation.
Further Information:
Case No. 4:25-CR-00202-JST
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
Allen D. Payton contributed to this report.
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