Arkansas Business reports that the state Securities Department has sued former bond salesman Steele Stephens for failure to pay a $20,000 assessed over an investigation of his securities dealing with former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner.
Yesterday, a hearing officer assigned to hear two financial securities cases related to former Arkansas Treasurer Marsha Shoffner issued a final order on the matter of Steele Stephens, the broker at St. Bernard Financial Services of Russellville who bribed Shoffner to obtain a higher volume of the state's bond business.
Martha Shoffner's attorney says a federal pre-sentencing report that calls for a prison sentence of up to almost 20 years for the 70-year-old former state treasurer should be dramatically reduced to 12 to 18 months at a halfway house and home detention.
Robert Keenan, CEO of St. Bernard Financial, reports that the company has settled a complaint that the firm failed to properly supervise salesman Steele Stephens, who paid kickbacks to then-Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner for millions in state bond business. Stephens cooperated in a federal investigation that led to a federal fraud conviction. She's awaiting sentencing.
Arkansas Securities Commissioner Heath Abshure has appointed North Little Rock lawyer Jack Pruniski as a hearing officer to hear two cases growing out of controversial dealings between former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner and an Arkansas securities firm.
Former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner was expected to plead guilty in federal court today to using campaign money to pay for personal expenses charged to her credit card. But the deal was scrapped on account of Shoffner's equivocal answers to the judge and she'll now go to trial in three weeks.
Martha Shoffner, the former Arkansas treasurer, has filed her expected motion that a federal judge set aside her conviction by a jury of taking money from a bond broker for state investment business.
UPDATE: Shortly before 6 p.m. today, a federal court jury returned guilty verdicts against former Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner on charges she took bribes in returns for pushing $2.5 million worth of commissions in bond purchases to broker Steele Stephens. The jury deliberated about 3.5 hours.
Arkansas Business reports that the Arkansas Securities Department is seeking to suspend or revoke the license of St. Bernard Financial, the Russellville-based securities firm that employed Steele Stephens during part of the time when he made $2.5 million in commissions from business with state Treasurer Martha Shoffner. The firm contends it has no culpability for Stephens' actions.
Steele Stephens, the bond broker favored with extraordinary amounts of state business by former Treasurer Martha Shoffner, testified in federal court today that he received $2.5 million in commissions over the four years of doing business with Shoffner. He paid her $36,000 in six equal cash installments, the last in a pie box under watch by the FBI.
Steele Stephens, the broker enriched by business with Arkansas Treasurer Martha Shoffner, took the stand today as the government's key witness. He said he once gave her $6,000 at the Capitol because he thought it would be good for business.