$12.5 Million Disgorgement for Ponzi Scheme

SACRAMENTO (CN) - A Northern California "wealth adviser" who was arrested in 2012 has 30 days to disgorge $12.5 million in ill-gotten gains and interest, a federal judge ruled.

Lawrence "Lee" Loomis, of Granite Bay, fought the SEC every step of the way since it sued him in February 2010, but U.S. District Judge Kimberly Mueller on Jan. 21 ordered him to pay the piper.

The SEC in 2010 sued Loomis; Loomis Wealth Solutions; Loomis's father-in-law John Hagener; and Lismar Financial Services, claiming they misappropriated $10 million from investors through fraudulent sale of interests in the Naras Funds.

In September 2012, Loomis was arrested on a 50-count indictment charging him and six others with mail fraud and wire fraud, federal prosecutors said at the time.

The indictment claimed that Loomis and his father-in-law victimized more than 100 people in a $7 million Ponzi scheme in 2007-08.

Loomis was charged in the same indictment with five other defendants in two related mortgage fraud schemes that caused more than $10 million in losses to mortgage lenders and others, the U.S. Attorney's Office said then.

Hagener pleaded guilty in March 2014 to conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

The Jan. 21 Federal Court order recaps Loomis's objections to two years of the SEC's proposed remedies, and orders him to disgorge $10.3 million, plus $2.2 million in interest.

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