Florida woman Johanna M. Garcia could be in a lot of trouble.
Garcia is known in her South Florida community as Mother Theresa, but apparently, she should be known as the South Florida Bernie Madoff because she has been accused of a $160 million Ponzi scheme, according to the NY Post.
Johanna M. Garcia, of North Lauderdale, allegedly defrauded over 15,400 investors of up to $196 million through her company, MJ Capital Funding LLC, NPR reported Tuesday.
Founded in 2020, MJ Capital pledged to connect investors with small businesses through “merchant cash advance,” or MCA.
Described as a “hardworking woman that has her priorities in line” in her company bio, Garcia boasted of being a down-to-earth businesswoman who helped regular people generate wealth — she was even “referred to as ‘Mother Theresa’ [sic] in her community.”
The ruse started to fall apart in April 2021, when a website emerged accusing MJ Capital of running a Ponzi scheme.
Garcia sued the anonymous whistleblower for defamation and continued to collect money from investors through August 2021, when the Securities and Exchange Commission filed a formal complaint against the company.
In the document dated Aug. 9, the SEC alleges that MJ Capital used investors’ cash to fund “outside annualized ‘returns’ of 120%-180%,” while company higher-ups squirreled away investments for personal excursions and luxury goods.
In addition to using new injections of money to satisfy existing investors, the SEC claims that MJ Capital used unlicensed brokers and sales agents to sell unregistered securities.
If this is true, she will spend a whole lot of time in prison.
When it comes to investments, when it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If you find yourself in a situation where someone is offering you something like 180% in returns do not leave your money in there for a long time. Get out quickly before the scammer uses up all your money to pay the other clients.
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