SEC v. Herbert Steven Fouke (2014)
Judgment entered
Checked against the primary document on October 3, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.
In August 2014 an SEC administrative law judge entered a default decision permanently barring former Brookstone Securities representative Herbert Steven Fouke from the securities industry and from penny stock offerings, based on his September 2013 guilty plea to one count of conspiracy. No monetary relief is recorded.
The record
| Agency | SEC |
|---|---|
| Release number | 3-15830 |
| Date filed | 2014-08-29 |
| Date resolved | 2014-08-29 |
| Court | SEC administrative law judge |
| Status | judgment |
| Asset class | bonds, equities |
| Venue | NYSE |
| Criminal parallel | Yes: sentenced (Herbert Fouke; thirty months, judgment 2014-05-23), U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana, 2014-05-23 |
| Bars imposed | penny stock bar, registration bar |
| Defendants | Herbert Steven Fouke |
| Cited as charged or alleged | Advisers Act s.206 ; 18 U.S.C. 371 (conspiracy) |
| Techniques |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- —
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- —
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
An SEC administrative law judge issued an initial decision of default on August 29, 2014 in administrative proceeding 3-15830, after Fouke failed to answer the order instituting proceedings or appear at the prehearing conference. The respondent is Herbert Steven Fouke (1 individual, 0 entities).
The proceeding is a follow-on action resting on a criminal conviction, not a trial of trading conduct. Fouke, a registered representative at Brookstone Securities in Florida, pleaded guilty in the Western District of Louisiana on September 6, 2013 to conspiracy with co-defendant Richard Buswell. His plea admitted that he knew Buswell had misstated credentials, commissions and promised returns to clients, had not explained the risks of direct private placements or margin, and had falsified clients' net worth to make them look like accredited investors. The word churning appears only where the decision recites the indictment's description of Buswell's own conduct; the order instituting proceedings does not mention it, and Fouke's plea is not recorded as admitting it. This library therefore does not tag the matter as churning, and no other technique fits.
The sanction is a permanent collateral bar from associating with a broker, dealer or adviser and from participating in a penny stock offering. No penalty or disgorgement is ordered.
For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary documents linked above.
Timeline
- 2014-08-29 Initial decision
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.