State seeks tougher penalty against LV stock promoter

Thursday, Feb. 8, 2001 | 10:52 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- A state's attorney urged the Nevada Supreme Court Wednesday to beef up the penalty against a Las Vegas man who sold stock in a venture in which investors may have lost $600,000.

Deputy Attorney General Tracey Brierly told the court that District Judge Mark Gibbons was wrong to reduce the penalty imposed on Robert Tretiak, an employee of Retirement Financial Centers of America Inc. and RFCA Financial Services Inc.

A hearing officer, after 17 days of testimony, ruled that the state license of Tretiak be revoked for five years. Gibbons reduced the penalty to two years.

Brierly argued the judge found there was substantial evidence to find Tretiak guilty of the misconduct in the sales of stock to raise money to start a string of branch stock brokerage offices. And she said the judge should have not changed the penalty.

D. Brian Boggess, attorney for Tretiak, argued the judge had the authority to reduce the penalty. And he said Judge Gibbons "really wanted to overturn the findings" of the hearing officer.

Boggess complained the state wanted to impose the"death penalty" on Tretiak by revoking his license. A lesser sentence such as a temporary suspension could have been levied by the hearing officer.

"If you impose the death penalty, there needs to be more willful wrongdoing," said Boggess and that wasn't present in this case. He said not one client of the company complained to the state.

He argued there was a "vast discrepancy" in the notice given to Tretiak of the violations he was accused of and what the hearing officer found. Tretiak is entitled to due process in these proceedings, said Boggess.

He urged the court to overturn the finding of Gibbons that there was substantial evidence to justify the disciplinary action.

The court took the case under submission and will rule later.

A prospectus was issued by the companies to raise money to create the branch brokerage offices. The hearing officer said Tretiak sold $450,944 worth of stock after the registration on prospectus offer expired.

"He (Tretiak) manipulated financial events at the company, taking compensation without approval of the board of directors and outside the normal accounting procedures" of the company, the hearing officer said.

The money raised was not used for its stated purchase, said the state's decision. He collected cash commissions on non-cash stock sales. And he did not disclose the developing problems of the company while he was selling the stock to branch out, the state said.

Some investors were reimbursed by other persons in the firm. But the hearing officer said Tretiak indicated "a lack of remorse and a lack of recognition that he has done anything wrong. This suggests that these problems might recur if Tretiak were allowed the opportunity," if there were not a five-year revocation.

The securities division of the Secretary of State's Office said about $1 million was raised from the prospectus and about $600,000 was lost by investors.