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The SEC?s Newfound Interest in Ponzi Schemes

By Michael MacPhail, Esq.

            On December 30, 2008, the SEC filed a complaint and sought emergency relief from a court seeking to halt an alleged Ponzi scheme and affinity fraud that collected more than $23 million from thousands of investors in the Haitian-American community nationwide through a network of purported investment clubs.[1]  What is noteworthy about this case is the SEC?s decision to prominently publicize it on the front page of its website.  Historically, the SEC has been disinterested in Ponzi schemes because they presented few intellectual challenges; they were neither legally or factually complex, and presented limited harm to investors (who lost, at most, a few million dollars).   Typically, staff members? careers were advanced by their development of cases against well-known companies, or cases involving regulated entities, such as broker-dealers...continue to full post

Full post as published by NASD, SEC and Regulatory Defense Blog on January 07, 2009 (boomark / email).