Father, Son Arrested in Scheme to Bilk Stock Market Investors

A Riverside County father and son were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of swindling stock market investors out of more than $200,000 in a scam run from their Granada Hills firm, the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office said.

Los Angeles detectives arrested Richard Mark Saltzman, 37, of Cathedral City and his father, Samuel Louis Saltzman, 76, of Rancho Mirage, on suspicion of conspiracy and grand theft, said Sandi Gibbons, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office.

“This is basically a stock-and-options market swindle,” she said.

The Saltzmans did business as Saltzman/Meadors Investment Group, operating from offices on Doric Street in Granada Hills and also out of the father’s home, Gibbons said. The younger Saltzman also used the name Astro Financial Services, she said.

According to Gibbons, the two men persuaded investors to hand over large sums by dangling the prospect of high dividends.

“Richard Saltzman first convinced a friend and then others to give him several thousand dollars to invest in stocks and options with the promise of high returns,” Gibbons said.

Samuel Saltzman, who opened a bank account to hold the investors’ funds, also touted his son’s business acumen and persuaded his friends to entrust thousands of dollars to Richard, she said, adding that the father even used an attorney’s letterhead without the man’s knowledge in order to lend credence to investment documents.

But when the investments came due, the Saltzmans failed to make good, Gibbons said. The duo either evaded questions from investors or offered “a series of excuses,” promises to recoup the money or outright admissions that they never invested the funds as promised, Gibbons said.

The older Saltzman eventually filed for bankruptcy even as some of the victims filed suit, she said.

An arrest warrant for both men was issued Monday, Gibbons said. After their arrests Tuesday, the father and son were held in lieu of $110,000 bail each.

They were each scheduled to be arraigned today on one count of conspiracy to commit grand theft and five counts of grand theft, Gibbons said.