SEC seeks lifting of stay in action against co-conspirator of Ponzi scammer Renwick Haddow
The regulator asks the Court to lift the stay in the civil action against James Bernard Moore.
Shortly after the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) provided an update to the New York Southern District Court on the proceedings against James Bernard Moore, one of the alleged co-conspirators of Ponzi scammer Renwick Haddow, the regulator has asked the Court to lift the stay in its action against Moore.
Let’s recall that, according to the SEC’s Complaint, from approximately mid-2015 through May 2016, Moore and Voicetech, a company Moore controlled with his wife, recruited a network of sales agents to sell fraudulent investments to investors and served as the sales agents’ liaison to the entities offering the fraudulent investments.
The defendants arranged for the sales agent network to sell the investments by using the offering entities’ false and misleading offering materials. Inter alia, the materials touted the background of a chief executive officer, who in fact did not exist as Moore knew, and at the same time intentionally omitted any mention of Renwick Haddow, the real person controlling the entities, because, also as Moore knew, Haddow had been sued by a United Kingdom regulator for a prior scheme involving African land.
The network of sales agents recruited by Moore and Voicetech raised over $5 million from at least 100 investors for the fraudulent investments. In return for their role in selling the fraudulent investments, the defendants received commissions that totaled at least $1.4 million from the entities offering the investments.
The SEC’s action has been stayed in light of ongoing criminal proceedings against Moore.
In the Letter filed with the Court on Friday, October 4, 2019, the Commission asks the Court to lift the stay now and allow discovery to proceed, including the Commission’s deposition of Moore.
Although no judgment of conviction has yet been entered in the Criminal Case, the SEC argues that it is appropriate for the Court to lift the stay in the civil action now so that the Commission may proceed with discovery. At a minimum, the Commission intends to take Moore’s deposition if no settlement is reached. Commission counsel has not been able to reach Moore or defendant Universal Voicetech directly, given’s Moore’s incarceration and pro se status in this action.
