The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has sued two executives Duncan MacDonald and Gloria Solomon of Global Corporate Alliance (GCA) for operating a $10m Ponzi scheme that deceived at least 80 investors.
Through GCA, both MacDonald and Solomon raised approximately $10m from investors and returned nearly $2m to some investors in the form of Ponzi payments.
Each of them took around $1m of investor funds and spent the remaining investor funds on various business-related expenses.
By creating fake monthly statements, both accused convinced the investors that Dallas-based medical insurance company had a strong track record of generating revenue from the sale of limited-benefit medical insurance, claims the market watchdog.
In contrast, GCA was a new company with virtually no revenue and following collection of fund, the company failed to pay back investors on time.
SEC Fort Worth regional office director David Woodcock said MacDonald and Solomon raised millions of dollars by lying to investors about their company’s business and history and their planned use of investor funds.
"When they could no longer fuel their Ponzi scheme with money from new victims, they told more lies in a failed effort to prevent their scheme from unraveling sooner," Woodcock added.
In a similar action, the US Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas has filed criminal charges against MacDonald and Solomon.
Both accused have been charged by the SEC which has sought disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, financial penalties, and permanent injunctions.