Johanna Michely Garcia, 41, from Broward County, Florida, the previous CEO of MJ Capital Funding, LLC, pled responsible on July 16 to operating a $190.7 million Ponzi scheme. She was charged with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Garcia and her associates, together with Pavel Ramon Ruiz Hernandez, claimed they had been utilizing investor cash to offer service provider money advances (MCAs) to small companies.
From October 2020 to August 2021, they solicited cash from buyers, promising excessive returns from MCA earnings. As a substitute, they made few loans and used new investor funds to pay current buyers, pocketing hundreds of thousands for themselves. Almost $90 million of the $200 million raised was misplaced by buyers.
They recruited others to assist solicit investments, paying them commissions. MJ Capital Funding listed place of job in Pompano Seashore, Florida.
After the FBI and SEC shut down MJ Capital Funding in fall 2021, Garcia, Ruiz Hernandez, and others started a brand new Ponzi scheme just like the unique. Garcia continued main this scheme till her arrest and even whereas in Bureau of Prisons custody. The entities concerned on this new fraud included New Starting World Funding LLC, New Starting Capital Funding LLC, Lion Coronary heart Capital Group LLC, GMR Transforming LLC, and Group Administration LLC.
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Just like the earlier scheme, they falsely claimed investor cash would fund industrial loans, however it was used to repay earlier buyers and assist their life.
Garcia’s sentencing is ready for September 20, 2024. Choose Jose E. Martinez will resolve her sentence.
Ruiz Hernandez was charged in August 2022, pled responsible in April 2023, and was sentenced to 110 months in jail in September 2023, adopted by three years of supervised launch.
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The announcement was made by U.S. Lawyer Markenzy Lapointe for the Southern District of Florida and FBI Miami Particular Agent in Cost Jeffrey B. Veltri.
