Broward Woman Johanna Garcia Accused Of Running Ponzi Scheme
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Johanna Garcia, a Broward County woman who owns MJ Capital Funding, is being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC is accusing Garcia of runny a Ponzi scheme.
According to court documents, MJ Capital Funding convinced more than 2,000 people to invest thousands of dollars and in exchange they would get back typically 120% for six-month investments.
The company's web site says that money would be used to fund small business loans.
But court documents that's not true. In fact, line 18 of the complaint says, "The representations that the MJ Companies were using investor money to fund MCAs and that their money was secure were lies."
"The SEC has alleged in this particular instance is that while making promises to investors to take money and invested and landed and get a large rate of return, instead they were simply using the funds themselves or using the new funds to pay out the old funds and they were selling what the FCC believed it was a security without having the proper license and requirements and then their actions were the Friday for the original and the new investors," said Attorney Dave Weinstein, who is not connected to the case.
But in a Change.org petition, almost 2,000 people came out in support of Garcia, saying they invested and got all their payments on time.
The company's assets have been frozen and they are scheduled to be in court to defend these civil charge in early September.