Investor Lawyers Blog
The United States Securities and Exchange Commission(“SEC”) has accused a Georgia investment adviser of operating a Ponzi scheme that the SEC alleges in its legal Complaint (accessible here SEC Complaint) filed in federal court has defrauded over 400 investors nationwide. The SEC Complaint alleges that investment advisers at a company called Livingston Group Asset Management Company, which does business as Southport Capital, persuaded investors to lend money to a company known as Horizon Private Equity, III, LLC (“Horizon PE”). The SEC alleges that investors in Horizon PE collectively are allegedly owed over $110 million in principal.
“Investors trusted Woods and the Southport investment advisers working at his direction, and they stand to lose significant portions of their retirement savings when the Ponzi scheme inevitably collapses. The longer the scheme continues, the larger the losses will be for those left holding the bag,” the SEC Complaint states.
According to the SEC Complaint, advisers soliciting investments in Horizon PE allegedly told clients that they would receive returns of 6% to 7% interest, guaranteed for two to three years, and that their money would be used for nonspecific investments such as government bonds, stocks, or small real estate projects. According to the SEC Complaint, clients were not told that their money would be used to pay returns to earlier investors. The SEC also alleges that investors were told they could receive their principal investment back without penalty subject to a 30-day or 90-day waiting period. The SEC alleges that because Horizon did not follow any traditional record-keeping practices, millions of dollars’ worth of investor funds are currently unaccounted for.