Defunct Florida Company and its Principals Charged With Investment Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has charged the former principals of now defunct Assured Capital Consultants, LLC, based in Clermont, Florida, with running a $25 million Ponzi scheme. Jenifer Hoffman, John Boschert, Bryan Zuzga have been charged with raising $25 million from investors by making false statements and creating fake documents about an investment program that did not exist.

According to the SEC’s Complaint, investors were told that their money would be invested in an offshore trading program that would then invest in medium term notes. Hoffman and Boschert allegedly enticed investors with promises of large profits and weekly returns of up to 50% and assurances that the investment was safe and guaranteed.

The Complaint states that investors were shown fictional bank documents purporting to verify that Assured Capital had $500 million on deposit at a Panamanian bank. The Complaint also claims that investors were told their funds would be secured in an escrow account, controlled by Zuzga – purportedly an escrow agent and a licensed attorney. According to the SEC, Zuzga was not an escrow agent and has never been a licensed attorney.

According to the SEC, the investment program was entirely fictional. The SEC alleges that later investors’ funds were used to make Ponzi-type payments to earlier investors with the remainder of the investors’ funds stolen by Hoffman, Boscher and Zuzga for their personal use.