Terroir Life’s Charles Banks Reaches Settlement With SEC
June 1, 2017Terroir Life founder and financial advisor Charles Banks has reached a partial settlement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over allegations of securities fraud.The move follows Banks’s decision to plead guilty to separate wire fraud charges in April. Both criminal cases stem from allegations made by former NBA star Tim Duncan, who claimed he was duped out of millions of dollars in investments—including financing for sports merchandising company Gameday, among other ventures—Banks made on his behalf.
The SEC settlement bars Banks from committing future securities violations as an advisor and prevents him from serving as a director or operator of any SEC-registered entity. He’s also required to pay back illegally obtained profits and waive his right to appeal. A sentence for the separate wire fraud charges—which could carry a maximum of 20 years in prison—is currently pending.
Terroir Life owns or manages nearly a dozen wineries in California, New Zealand and South Africa. Banks’s legal woes do not involve any of his wine enterprises.—Christina Jelski
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