Former Georgia legislator ordered to pay over $10m for financial fraud

Rick Steves

The SEC found that Mr. Alford actually used the investor funds to pay personal expenses, including construction costs associated with a multi-million dollar home, and to make interest payments to earlier investors in order to keep the Ponzi scheme running.

Former Georgia state legislator Clarence Dean Alford has been ordered to disgorge ill-gotten gains of $8,849,653 with prejudgment interest of $1,751,085 and to pay a civil penalty of $192,768.

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia imposed restitution, interest, and penalties, based on a complaint filed by the SEC.

The former legislator has also been banned from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security listed on a national securities exchange, except purchases or sales of securities in personal accounts.

The SEC alleged that from 2017 to 2019, Mr. Alford, who was the CEO, President, and co-managing member of Allied Energy Services, LLC, fraudulently induced at least 100 investors to invest at least $23 million in unregistered, high-yield promissory notes purportedly issued by Allied.

According to the complaint, investors were lied to regarding Allied’s financial condition, who falsely claimed had millions in assets and revenues from 2016 through 2018, even though it had less than $1 million in assets and far less in “gross receipts.”

The former Georgia legislator also falsely told potential investors that Allied would use their funds for various projects, including to support a purported solar energy program, having falsely claimed it established partnerships with several international solar companies.

The SEC found that Mr. Alford actually used the investor funds to pay personal expenses, including construction costs associated with a multi-million dollar home, and to make interest payments to earlier investors in order to keep the Ponzi scheme running.

Yesterday, another court case involving a Ponzi scheme came to an end. Douglas Lien misappropriated client money intended for futures trading and issued false account statements to conceal his fraud, the CFTC found.

The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico has ordered Mr. Lien to pay more than $10.3 million in monetary sanctions and relief for a futures trading fraud that lasted nearly 20 years.

the order requires the restitution of $5,195,679 and a civil penalty of $5,195,679. The CFTC warned victims that they might never see their money again.

Mr. Lien admitted that from August 2000 until December 2019, he solicited more than $14.2 million from 45 individuals to manage their trading in commodity futures, specifically U.S. Treasury Bond futures.

Operating a classic Ponzi scheme, he used client money to pay for the false trading profits he declared and kept more than $3.5 million for so-called “management fees”.

Read this next

Digital Assets

BlockDAG Presale Raises $9.9M as Batch 5 Nears Sell-Out Amid Bonk’s Fluctuating Trading Volume & Spell’s Bullish Price

Explore BONK’s trading volume, SPELL’s market shifts, and why BlockDAG’s 10,000 ROI makes it an ideal crypto for savvy investors in 2024.

Digital Assets

Cathie Wood’s sponsored Bitcoin ETF sees historic $200 million inflows

The ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), co-sponsored by Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, registered historic inflows exceeding $200 million on Wednesday, signaling a robust appetite among investors for Bitcoin-centric investments.

Digital Assets

Sam Bankman-Fried might see his 25-year sentence halved

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison by a Manhattan court on Thursday. This comes after he was convicted of defrauding customers and investors, with Judge Lewis Kaplan highlighting the potential future risks posed by Bankman-Fried.

Technical Analysis

EURJPY Technical Analysis Report 28 March, 2024

EURJPY currency pair under the bearish pressure after the pair reversed down from the major resistance level 164.25, which also stopped the sharp weekly uptrend at the end of last year,

Digital Assets

BlockDAG’s Presale Hits $9.9M, MultiversX & MINA Price Predictions Show Green

Read about BlockDAG’s promising $10 prediction and insights on MultiversX Price Prediction as MINA’s potential unfolds.

Digital Assets

Rockstar Co-Founder and All-star Line Up Join Advisory Board to Take Metacade into Post Beta Orbit

Metacade, the revolutionary Web3 gaming platform, prepares to streak out of beta with a slew of ground-breaking initiatives that will redefine the way blockchain games are developed.

Retail FX

Prop firm The Funded Trader shuts down, claims relaunch in April

Prop trading firm The Funded Trader has ceased all operations, with claims for a relaunch in the near future.

Digital Assets

Ethereum-Based Tokenized Real Estate Platform USP Launches On Republic

How This Californian Startup Is Revolutionizing Real Estate Investment through Ethereum-Based Tokenization.

Digital Assets

Sui Spikes in Weekly DEX Volume, Joins Top 10 of All Blockchains

March DEX volume on Sui stands at over $2.88B – up more than 49% from February – with decentralized exchange Cetus and wholesale liquidity layer DeepBook leading.

<