A federal court in Florida ordered a real estate investing firm and its former owner to pay $1 billion for operating a Ponzi scheme that targeted thousands of retail investors, many of them seniors.
The court ordered Woodbridge Group of Companies to pay $892 million in disgorgement and its former owner and CEO Robert H. Shapiro to pay a $100 million civil penalty and give back more than $20 million in ill-gotten gains and interest.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, which announced the order on Monday, filed an emergency action in December 2017 charging the company with operating the $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme that defrauded 8,400 retail investors across the country.
A Ponzi scheme is an investment fraud that pays current investors with money brought in from new investors, often without ever investing the money in the way it was advertised it would be invested. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida approved the judgments against Woodbridge and its 281 affiliates.
This story is developing. Please check back for updates.
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