Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Judge Puts the Kybosh on Internet Scheme

OAKLAND (CN) - A federal judge Monday froze the assets of a company the SEC accused of running a $130 million pyramid scheme in Internet ads.

U.S. District Judge Richard Seeborg granted the SEC request for a preliminary injunction against California-based eAdGear and its Hong Kong affiliate eAdGear Holdings limited.

The order also freezes the assets of defendants CEO Charles Wang, his wife Cathy Zhang, CFO Francis Yuen, and Yuen's wife, relief defendant Laurata Chan.

Seeborg also wants an accounting, preservation of documents, and repatriation of assets.

The SEC sued the defendants in September, claiming they were running a Ponzi scheme targeting investors, many of them Chinese. eAdGear claimed to use search engine optimization to boost clients' rankings on the Internet.

The SEC said the four individual defendants used investors' money to fill their personal bank accounts with more than $1 million, and to buy property in California and New Jersey.

Categories / Uncategorized

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...