Pastor Faces Affinity Fraud Charges Alleging that He Bilked Retirees, Church Members, & Laid-Off Auto Workers

美国证券交易委bob200体育员会对密歇根州弗林特的丰富生活部的牧师拉里·霍利（Larry Holley）提出了欺诈指控。根据监管机构的说法，牧师使用基于信仰的词来从目标中征集投资，因为他使他们认为这是一家拥有数百家商业和住宅物业的成功房地产业务。SEC的亲和力欺诈complaint said that Holley’s scam raised about $6.7M from over 80 investors who were promised high returns.

据称，霍利举行了“有福的生活会议”，实际上是美国各地教堂的财务演讲。在这些聚会期间，他将要求集团在他给他们的卡上披露他们的财务持有，并承诺“为卡片祈祷”。据说他称投资者为“百万富翁”。

SEC的投诉还声称，Holley的业务伙伴Patricia Enright Gray针对最近放弃的汽车工程，他们获得了遣散费，她提议与他们咨询以帮助他们发展财务状况。据称，她承诺将退休资金纳入税收优惠的IRA，并将其资金投资于Holley的企业，即Holley的公司。她在弗林特的一个宗教广播电台上做广告。

However, claims the Commission, Gray, who also faces charges in this civil case, never deposited investor money into any IRAs, and Treasure Enterprise had a hard time making enough money to support itself or pay investors. The SEC said that the company, which it also has charged, owes investors about $1.9M in payments.

SEC Director David Glockner accused Gray and Holley of targeting churchgoers and their retirement funds while using their faith-based bond to gain their trust and lure them into the scam. Gray, Treasure Enterprises, and Holley were not registered to sell investments.

Affinity Fraud
Affinity fraud is a type of scam in which members of a specific group are targeted. The group usually has something in common. They may belong to the same church, alumni organization, immigrant community, ethnic group, workforce, team, club, profession social group, etc. With affinity scams, either a bogus investment or one in which important details related to the investment are misrepresented or fabricated is involved. (In the SEC case against Holley, elder financial fraud was also a factor since senior investors were allegedly targeted.)

针对Holley，Gray和Treasure Enterprise的SEC民事案件并不是监管机构本周处理的唯一亲和力欺诈案。该委员会宣布，它已经针对现任军人，其他退伍军人以及其他投资者的前海空袭击做出了最终判决。

克莱顿·科恩（Clayton Cohn）利用对冲基金从投资者那里筹集了近180万美元，他据说他对他的专业交易记录，对冲基金的绩效以及他将如何使用收益。根据美国证券交易委员会的投诉，科恩筹集了近180万美元，但仅投资了一半的投资者资金，同时花费了超过40万美元的奢侈生活方式。他通过生成吹捧200％年度收益的帐户声明来隐藏对冲基金欺诈。

Last year, Cohn pleaded guilty to related criminal charges. He recently was sentenced to 52 months in prison and ordered to pay investment fraud victims over $1.5M.

As part of the SEC’s final judgment, Cohn is permanently enjoined from violating sections of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 10b-5 thereunder, sections of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder. The regulator found him liable for over $1.5M in disgorgement.

If you suspect that your investment losses are due to securities fraud, contact our亲和欺诈律师事务所today.

Read the SEC Complaint in the Holley, Gray, and Treasure Enterprise Case（PDF）

SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Clayton A. Cohn, SEC, March 30, 2017