SEC Says It’s Broken Up $102 Million Ponzi Scheme

MANHATTAN (CN) — The SEC has frozen the assets in a $102 million Ponzi scheme and filed charges against five men and three companies they control, the agency said Tuesday.

The defendants defrauded more than 600 investors nationwide through sales of securities in First Nationle Solution LLC, United RL Capital Services, and Percipience Global Corp., the SEC said.

The men skimmed more than $20 million for themselves, dished out $38.5 million in Ponzi payments, and “transferred much of the remainder in transactions that appear unrelated to the issuers’ purported businesses,” the SEC said in a statement announcing its federal lawsuit.

Charged along with the three companies are Perry Santillo and Christopher Parris, both of Rochester, N.Y.; Paul LaRocco of Ocala, Fla.; John Piccarreto of San Antonio; and Thomas Brenner of Orville, Ohio.

“The defendants engaged in a massive fraud and swindled investors to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains,” Marc Berger, director of the SEC’s New York office, said in a statement.

The court granted the SEC request to freeze assets, issued a restraining order, and said it will consider issuing a preliminary injunction at a June 29 hearing.

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