The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed a complaint against a Villa Rica man, accusing him of fraudulently raising more than $1 million through an alleged online Ponzi scheme.
The federal agency, in a case filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, said James A. Evans Jr., 33, conducted the alleged fraud through a website called DollarMonster from January 2012 to April 2014. The domain name of the site was Cashflowbot.com.
Efforts were being made to reach Evans for comment.
The SEC wants the federal court to order Evans to halt his business and return any “ill-gotten” funds. The agency said Evans does not hold any securities licences and is not registered with the SEC.
The complaint said the DollarMonster website promoted itself differently at times. At one point the site promoted itself as a hedge fund manager that purchased stocks on behalf of investors and promised big returns.
On another occasion, the site promoted itself as a private holding company that invested in gold, silver, real estate, stocks and bonds. Investors who purchased shares in the company allegedly were promised monthly dividends.
The site allegedly promised returns that exceeded the amount of money members had invested, suggesting profitability. At one point late last year, the SEC said Evans advertised that DollarMonster had more than 120 management teams and $38 million in assets under management.
DollarMonster, however, allegedly had raised only about $1.15 million from more than 3,000 investors, the SEC said in its 21-page complaint. The agency said about $1.06 million was redistributed to certain investors as profits while Evans withdrew $30,405 for his own use.
“Ultimately, Defendant Evans’ scheme collapsed,” the complaint said. “While some investors received payouts, others lost all invested funds.”
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