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Seven Accused of Selling Fake BondsDevon Archer, Jason Galanis and others
face securities-fraud charges related to alleged tribal bond scheme
By
CHRISTOPHER M. MATTHEWS
Updated May 11, 2016 8:08 p.m. ET
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Federal prosecutors charged a former campaign adviser to Secretary of
State John
Kerry <http://topics.wsj.com/person/K/John-Kerry/7196> and a second man
once dubbed by the media “porn’s new king” along with five others in an
alleged scheme involving a Native American Tribal bond offering.

Devon Archer, an adviser to Mr. Kerry’s presidential campaign in 2004,
and Jason Galanis, a former investor in the adult-entertainment business,
allegedly duped clients into investing more than $43 million in sham bonds
issued in 2014 and 2015 by an affiliate of the Oglala Sioux Nation in South
Dakota.

Messrs Archer, Galanis and the five other defendants, including Mr.
Galanis’s father, then allegedly diverted tens of millions of the bond
investments to accounts they controlled and used them to purchase luxury
goods and support an initial public offering for a technology company,
authorities said.

Lawyers for Mr. Archer and for Mr. Galanis and his father didn’t
immediately respond to requests for comment.

All seven defendants were arrested Wednesday, and the Manhattan U.S.
attorney’s office charged them with securities fraud. The Securities and
Exchange Commission filed related civil charges.

Along with Jason Galanis, 45 years old, those arrested were his
father, John Galanis; Devon Archer; Bevan Cooney; Hugh Dunkerley; Gary
Hirst and Michelle Morton.

Susan Brune, a lawyer representing Mr. Dunkerley, said her client “looks
forward to addressing the charges.” A lawyer representing Mr. Cooney denied
the allegations.

A lawyer for Mr. Hirst didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
And a lawyer for Ms. Morton, couldn’t be immediately identified.

The younger Galanis was charged in Manhattan federal court in September for
activities related to an alleged pump-and-dump scheme. He was accused by
prosecutors of secretly taking control of reinsurance firm Gerova Financial
Group <http://quotes.wsj.com/GVFG> Ltd. <http://quotes.wsj.com/GVFG> and
then dumping its stock, reaping nearly $20 million in illegal profits. Mr.
Galanis’ father is also charged in that case. They have pleaded not guilty
in the Gerova case.

Mr. Archer was the college roommate of the secretary of state’s stepson, H.J.
Heinz <http://quotes.wsj.com/KHC> Co. <http://quotes.wsj.com/KHC> ketchup
heir Christopher Heinz, and has business ties to Vice President Joe Biden
<http://topics.wsj.com/person/B/Joe-Biden/6352>’s son, Hunter.

Mr. Archer, 39, and Hunter Biden, 44, have worked for Rosemont Seneca
Partners, a U.S. investment company. It is affiliated with Rosemont
Capital, a private-equity firm Mr. Archer co-founded with Mr. Heinz.

Messrs. Archer and Biden also recently joined the board of directors of
Burisma Holdings Ltd, a Ukrainian gas producer controlled by a former top
security and energy official for deposed President Viktor Yanukovych,
as previously
reported by The Wall Street Journal
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303851804579560542284706288>.
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That move has attracted attention
<http://www.wsj.com/articles/ukrainians-see-conflict-in-bidens-anticorruption-message-1449523458>,
given the Obama administration’s recent support for pro-Western
demonstrators who toppled Mr. Yanukovych’s Kremlin-backed government in
February.

Rosemont Seneca, now a part of New York-based Burnham Asset Management,
according to Rosemont’s website, declined to comment. Burnham didn’t
respond immediately to a request for comment.

Jason Galanis has previously run afoul of the SEC. To settle another SEC
case, he agreed to a five-year ban from serving as an officer or director
of a publicly traded company in 2007. The agency alleged he had filed false
accounting information for Penthouse International
<http://quotes.wsj.com/PHSL>Inc., <http://quotes.wsj.com/PHSL> an adult
magazine publisher in which Jason Galanis owned a significant stake, that
SEC complaint said.

Jason and John Galanis were also accused on Wednesday of diverting funds to
pay for legal costs in their ongoing pump-and-dump case. Seven individuals
have been charged in the alleged Gerova fraud, including Mr. Hirst, who was
Gerova’s chairman and chief investment officer. In the separate Gerova
case, six of that case’s seven defendants are scheduled to go to trial in
September and have pleaded not guilty.

—Ezequiel Minaya contributed to this article.

Write to Christopher M. Matthews at christopher.matthews@wsj.com


Eric D. Schwerin
eschwerin@rosemontseneca.com

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