\t\t\t\tThe SEC is charging Miami investment adviser Phil Donnahue Williamson with running a Ponzi scam and bilking at least seventeen investors. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida has filed a parallel criminal action against him.<\/p>\n
According to the SEC, Williamson raised over $2 million over the course of seven years-from ’07 to ’14-while making misrepresentations about the way investors’ money would be used, as well as regarding the investments’ valuations and returns. He also allegedly misused or misappropriated at least $748,000 of client money to pay for personal expenses, other businesses, and unrelated investment activities. Among his investors were several retired local law enforcement officers and teachers who were looking to put their savings in safe investments.<\/p>\n
Williamson allegedly used the money he solicited for the Sterling Investment Fund, which supposedly invested in properties and mortgages in Georgia and Florida, to run his Ponzi scheme. He advised investors to buy an LLC interest in the fund. <\/p>\n