sec.gov | 1/15/09 | $25 million | suspect: James G. Ossie | victim: CRE Capital Corporation
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Atlanta-area firm CRE Capital Corporation and its president James G. Ossie with operating a Ponzi scheme. The SEC has obtained an emergency court order freezing their assets and appointing a receiver for CRE.
According to the SEC's complaint, CRE and Ossie fraudulently obtained at least $25 million from investors during 2008 by representing that it would use their money to engage in a currency trading program. Most investors were advised that they would receive guaranteed returns of 10 percent every 30 days, although a few investors were promised as much as 20 percent. In fact, CRE's currency trading was not profitable and returns were paid to investors out of principal and money invested by later investors. CRE also falsely claimed that the firm and its program were audited by an outside accounting firm, which had concluded that CRE was not a Ponzi scheme. The SEC's complaint also charged CRE and Ossie with fraud relating to their offer to sell $100 million in CRE stock that was slated to begin in early 2009.
