SEC Injunction Against Wealth Pools and Robert Lane
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Robert E. Lane, Wealth Pools International, Inc., and Recruit for Wealth, Inc., Defendants, and T-N-T Education Company, Inc., Richard H. Lane, Mundo Trade, Inc., Renee Becker, Julia Lane, and First Fiduciary Business Trust, Relief Defendants, Civil Action No. 6:07-cv-1920-Orl-22KRS (M.D. Fla., filed Dec. 5, 2007)
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that on December 6, 2007, it won an asset freeze and other emergency relief to halt a massive pyramid scheme with as many as 70,000 victims in 64 countries. The scheme involving the purported sale of English and Spanish language tutorials particularly preyed on Hispanic communities in Orlando, Fla., and Puerto Rico.
The SEC charged Robert Lane, Wealth Pools International, Inc., and Recruit For Wealth, Inc. with the fraudulent offer and sale of unregistered securities in the form of "Associate" memberships in an enterprise called Wealth Pools. The fraudulent offering began in 2005 and the defendants claim to have raised over $132 million in 2007 alone, according to the SEC's complaint.
Wealth Pools purports to be a multi-level marketing company primarily selling an English and Spanish language tutorial DVD called Talk-N-Tutor through a network of sales Associates around the world, the SEC alleges in its complaint. The DVD is, in reality, a front for Wealth Pools's true product - an investment in one or more "pools" that offer investors an opportunity to receive passive income through the efforts of others to recruit new investors, according to the complaint. The SEC further alleges that investors do not profit from the sale of DVDs to consumers, but from the recruitment of new investors termed "Associates."
The SEC's complaint also charges the defendants with luring investors through "Opportunity Meetings" held at Wealth Pools's Orlando, Fla., headquarters, in Puerto Rico, and live on the internet. The defendants enticed investors to purchase thousands of DVDs by falsely promising them that they would earn income for life with no further effort, according to the SEC's complaint. The SEC further charged the defendants with failing to disclose, among other things, that Wealth Pools is a pyramid scheme utterly dependent on an ever increasing number of new investors to pay existing ones, and is destined to collapse, leaving investors with substantial losses. Additionally, the SEC alleges that the defendants do not disclose the dilutive effect of new investors on all investors' returns, which renders baseless the defendants representations that 97% of Associates make money and receive a lifetime of passive income. Finally, the complaint alleges that the defendants do not disclose that Lane was president of another company that used similar methods that failed, resulting in it declaring bankruptcy and being enjoined by the State of Florida.
The SEC filed its action in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida seeking a temporary restraining order, preliminary and permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. The complaint alleges that the defendants violated the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and the securities registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act of 1933. The SEC also named as relief defendants members of Robert Lane's family and other related entities who received investor proceeds raised in the fraudulent and unregistered offering.
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SEC Halts Fraudulent Global Pyramid Scheme Preying On Hispanic Community Securities and Exchange Commission v. Robert E. Lane, Wealth Pools International, Inc., and Recruit for Wealth, Inc., Defendants, and T-N-T Education Company, Inc., Richard H. Lane, Mundo Trade, Inc., Renee Becker, Julia... Read More...
