Cease and desist orders from North Dakota Securities Department levied against two North Dakotans accused of improper use of investor funds

(Bismarck, ND) -- Two people are ordered to cease and desist from the sale of $25 million in unregistered securities, misusing investor funds, and various other allegations from a state agency.

The North Dakota Securities Department tells us they have sent cease and desist notices to Grand Forks resident Michael Kuntz, The President of National Sports Opportunity Partners LLC (NSOP), and Fargo resident Jeremy L. Carlson, who has been a treasurer for NSOP and is the president of Jamieson Capital Financial. Kuntz and Carlson are accused of selling $25 million dollars in unregistered promissory notes and misappropriating investor dollars. The Securities Department tells us the two are also ordered to repay the investors and to pay a penalty of $2.88 million for damages.

The Securities Department alleges the two individuals sold $25 million dollars of promissory notes in 16 different transactions. The Securities Department further alleges over $12 million investor dollars were sent to three different individuals for payments affiliated with Legacy Sports USA for a 10% ownership stake in the non-profit organization.  

The Securities Department says in a separate instance, over $7.5 million in investor money was used to pay up-front fees for unlicensed money brokers and affiliates to secure multi-million-dollar financing commitments. The department alleges $2.5 million dollars of NSOP investor money was deposited into Carlson's Jamieson Capital Finance bank account, wired to entities in China, returned to the account, and then wired to brokers living in Las Vegas. 

"The Department also alleges Kuntz and Carlson misappropriated investor money by using money raised from later sales of the unregistered NSOP promissory notes to repay in full and/or make interest payments to earlier NSOP investors in a Ponzi-like manner." said The North Dakota Securities Department in a statement to WDAY Radio, who also say Kuntz used investor money pay for the alternative financing fraud scheme and returning a portion of the money to Carlson, who is accused of using the money to make payments on a lake home, boat, and pay off other personal debts. 

An investigation into the actions of Kuntz and Carlson is underway with The North Dakota Securities Department and "other authorities", according to the statement. You can read the full order from ND Securities Commissioner Karen Tyler by clicking here.