LAS VEGAS (CN) - A man and his company who ignored court orders must pay $260,000 in default judgments for a $2.6 million securities scheme, a federal judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge Andrew P. Gordon on Monday ordered James L. Erwin and Joint Venture Solutions each to pay $129,975 in disgorgement for illegally selling unregistered securities to investors who lost a total of $2.55 million .
The SEC said Gordon and his company sold unregistered securities in "two advance-fee high-yield investment scams orchestrated by Swiss-based Malom Group."
Malom was an acronym for "Make A Lot Of Money."
Erwin and his company ran the scheme with Las Vegas-based M.Y. Consultants, the SEC said.
Erwin and Joint Venture Solutions ignored the matter didn't bother to respond to notice from the court.
"Because the defendants have ceased participating in the case and have not updated their addresses, the SEC is prejudiced by the defendants' frustration of the court proceedings," Gordon wrote.
He said Erwin and Joint Venture Solutions "willfully failed to comply with this court's orders" and "have abandoned their defense."
The SEC sought $1.5 million in penalties against Erwin and $7.5 million against Joint Venture Solutions, but suggested the court might prefer requiring each defendant to pay the equivalent of their profits due to difficulties in determining how they "divided their spoils" with others in a related case.
Gordon agreed and ordered disgorgement and told the SEC to recalculate and submit motions on interest by July 10.
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