Corporate & Securities Law

The Securities and Exchange Commission has halted a fraudulent global pyramid scheme praying on the Hispanic community.  The SEC announced that in early December it filed an emergency action against Robert Lane, Wealth Pools International, Inc., and Recruit for Wealth, Inc., charging them with the fraudulent offer and sale of unregistered securities in the form of "Associate" memberships in an enterprise called Wealth Pools.  The offering began in 2005 when the defendants claim to have raised over $132 million in 2007 alone, according to the SEC's complaint.

The SEC alleges in its complaint that Wealth Pools purports to be a multi-level marketing company primarily selling an English and Spanish language tutorial DVD called Talk-N-Tutor through a network of sales Associates around the world.  The DVD is, in reality, a front for Wealth Pool's true product - an investment in one or more "pools" that offer investors an opportunity to receive passive income through the efforts of others to recruit new investors, according to the complaint.  The defendants enticed investors to purchase thousands of DVDs by falsely promising them that they would earn income for life with no further effort, according to the SEC's complaint.  The SEC also charged the defendants with failing to disclose, among other things, that Wealth Pools is a fraudulent pyramid scheme, that each new investor dilutes all investors' returns, and that Lane's previous attempt at a similar scheme resulted in bankruptcy.

In early December, upon motion by the SEC, a U.S. District Judge for the Middle District of Florida issued an order temporarily restraining the defendants and freezing their assets, as well as the assets of other defendants.  SNSFE is investigating this fraudulent scheme and would welcome comments or information.