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Radio show host files lawsuit, blames loss of state house seat on negative publicity
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BATON ROUGE- A radio show host and political candidate Hollis Day Jr. is suing a man who spoke out against him, claiming he was defamed two weeks before voters went to the polls to elect a State Rep. in District 66 in Baton Rouge.
Day is the target of a federal lawsuit filed by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
The feds allege Day used his position as a radio host "Sage Money Radio" to reach a larger audience and solicit investors. The feds say he sold oil and gas securities to retail investors and in return received commissions. A lawsuit filed by the SEC last year says, "many of the individuals to whom Day sold the oil and gas securities lost much, if not all, of their investments."
Eric Bertolet is one of those investors who first met Day when he had a radio show too.
"I've lost many thousands in other investments through Hollis," Bertolet said. "I met the principals through Hollis at Juban's through other seminars per the SEC complaint."
Now, Day is suing Bertolet alleging his comments and social media posts were defamatory and cost him the election.
Day did an interview with the WBRZ Investigative Unit last month and denied any wrongdoing.
"When you add the fact that I'm an outspoken Christian, love the oil and gas industry and am a critic of the Biden administration...I think it gets attention," Day said.
Day is accused of receiving $869,796 in commissions from the oil and gas securities from 2016 until 2020. The feds claim Day broke federal securities laws by actively participating in the offer and sale of securities that were not registered with the commission and acting as a broker in the offer and sale of the oil and gas securities, despite the fact that he was not registered with the commission.
"There's a lot of things lately that the federal government claims that is not true," Day said.
The lawsuit Day filed in Ascension Parish alleges Bertolet's false statements have irreparably harmed Day's professional status and personal reputation.
WBRZ reached out to Day and his lawyers for a comment on this story. We did not hear back.
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