DETROIT (CN) - Gregory McKnight and Legisi Holdings took $72 million from more than 3,000 people in a Ponzi scheme, says the SEC, which has obtained an emergency court order freezing their assets.
McKnight, of Swartz Creek, Mich., is accused of promising 15 percent monthly returns on unregistered securities he sold over the Internet. But McKnight invested less than half the money he raised, the SEC claims, handing out $28 million and misrepresenting it as profits, and spending more than $2 million on himself and his family.
The SEC also sued McKnight's daughter, Jennifer McKnight, his niece, Danielle Burton, and Danielle's mother, Theresa Burton, all of whom allegedly received some of his ill-gotten gains.
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