MyMobileWatchdog Founder Pleads 'Not Guilty' To Investment Fraud

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — A 63-year-old Newport Beach executive pleaded not guilty Monday to alleged multi-million dollar investment fraud while another co-defendant awaits arraignment in December.

Robert Andrew Lotter denied 20 felony charges, including making an untrue statement or omission connected with the offer or sale of a security, using a device, and scheme or artifice to defraud with sentencing enhancement allegations of aggravated white-collar crime, according to court records.

Co-defendant Charles Albert Major, 71, of Irvine— an insurance agent who worked for Lotter— was charged with 27 felonies. According to court records, one charge included "making an untrue statement or omission in connection with the purchase or sale of a security and burglary with sentencing enhancement allegations for aggravated white-collar crime."

Both men are being held without bail, according to jail records.

In court papers, state Department of Insurance investigator Braelyn Velasco said Lotter "fraudulently sold securities to 20 victims by means of omission, misrepresentation, and through the use of a device, scheme, or artifice, Lotter's victims lost $4,087,811.04."

According to Velasco, Lotter "sold investments in his companies' eAgency Inc. and Mymobilewatchdog Inc. from May 2003 to May 2018, using "misleading marketing materials."

His tactics "led victims to believe Lotter's insurance agency was affiliated with the California State Teachers' Retirement System, a state agency that provides retirement pension benefits to California public school educators.

Lotter created My Mobile Watchdog, a Newport Beach-based company that helps parents use the app to track web activity on their children's cellphones.

"Victims responded to the misleading materials with the belief they were requesting a retirement analysis from (the state retirement system)," Velasco alleged.

Accredited investors were then solicited to invest in the defendant's companies, Velasco said.
Lotter "inappropriate used his agency to access customers' private financial information to determine if the customer was accredited, to solicit the customers' investments" in the defendants' companies, Velasco alleged.

Lotter also dangled "unrealistic and inflated financial projects of his companies" to potential investors, Velasco alleged.

Lotter also "failed to properly disclose toall victims" that investments in his companies were "high risk," Velasco alleged.

"At least ten victims stated there were no such discussions of the risk involved, or that such discussions did not identify the investment as high- risk," Velasco alleged. "Some victims were told there was no chance they would lose any of their investment."

Velasco further alleged that Lotter and his "companies continued to lull victims throughout the years into believing eAgency Inc and/or Mymobileatchdog Inc. was making significant progress and investors would see substantial returns soon. Nearly every victim stated they were told investors would see returns within one to two years. The same message was given to victims from the early 2000s until 2018."

Major was scheduled to be arraigned Dec. 16 in the jail courtroom in Santa Ana.

City News Service, Patch Editor Ashley Ludwig contributed to this report.