SEC Stops $22M Fraud Aimed At Retirement Funds

The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a federal court to put a stop to a scheme that has defrauded retirees out of $22 million.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has asked a federal court to put a stop to a scheme that has defrauded retirees out of $22 million. A federal judge in California has frozen the assets of Jon James, a 29-yer-old resident of the state who controlled several companies. According to the SEC’s complaint, James sent invitations to a free dinner seminar on retirement planning, at which he would tell investors that they could make double-digit returns by investing their individual retirement account funds “to take advantage of the booming real estate market.” The SEC charges that James and his companies purchased no real estate in 2004 and 2005, and that the defendants used new money to pay bogus returns to existing investors. “This case reaffirms the Commission’s commitment to aggressively investigate and take prompt action against frauds targeting Americans’ retirement funds,” said Linda Chatman Thomsen, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement.