TUCSON (KVOA) – It took Cindy Bryant years of blood, sweat and tears to build up her retirement account. However, only a simple signature to lose everything.
Bryant said she lost $95,000 to an investment into Deeproot Funds, which the Securities and Exchange Commission is accusing in a federal lawsuit of being a Ponzi scheme.
“I feel sick,” Bryant said. “It’s hard to sleep at nights.”
The SEC claims that the fund and its principal member San Antonio, Texas attorney Robert Mueller, used around $58 million of investor funds for personal means using it “as his personal piggy bank.”
The News 4 Tucson Investigators could find no record of Deeproot or Mueller being criminally charged based on the allegations.
The N4T Investigators did find documents filed in the U.S. Western District of Texas court showing Deeproot has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy, which could be bad news for investors like Bryant.
“I have been told many times, now it’s a lost cause,” Bryant said. “I will never see that $95,000 again.”
Bryant said she trusted Tucson financial advisor Pamela Hopman of PGH Advisors and the Hopman Group with her money. She said it was Hopman who invested her money into Deeproot in 2019.
Bryant said she believes Hopman should have done better research on the investment.
Bryant has not yet filed a lawsuit against Hopman. She…
