Judge’s Handwritten Order Causes Mix-Up Over SEC Penalty

A former Georgia state legislator must pay the SEC disgorgement, interest, and fines after a federal judge in the state entered a final judgment, but it’s unclear how much the defendant owes.

The judgment in Clarence Dean Alford’s case calls for him to pay almost $9 million in disgorgement, more than $1.7 million in interest, and nearly $192,800 more as a civil fine. But Judge Thomas W. Thrash Jr.'s Wednesday order, filled in by hand, also says Alford “shall satisfy this obligation by paying” just the fine amount—less than $200,000.

The Securities and Exchange Commission “understands the intent of the Final Judgment to be that Defendant satisfy the obligation by paying all of the amounts ordered,” the agency told the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia on Thursday.

The court should issue an “amended judgment to remedy the inconsistency,” the SEC said.

Alford allegedly fraudulently induced investors to hand over more than $23 million for unregistered, high-yield promissory notes. He then used some of the money to purchase a Tesla and a multimillion-dollar Utah home, the SEC said in its July 2020 complaint.

The former state legislator reached a settlement with the SEC last July, but it left disgorgement and fine amounts open for the court to determine at a later date. Alford didn’t admit wrongdoing.

Finch McCranie LLP represented Alford, a Republican who served five terms in Georgia’s House of Representatives.

The case is SEC v. Alford, N.D. Ga., No. 1:20-cv-03164, motion for amended judgment filed 2/4/21.