Ponzi scheme: SEC shuts down finance firm over illegal investment activities

Ponzi scheme: SEC shuts down finance firm over illegal investment activities

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), has sealed off the premises of a finance company, Ready Finance Investors,  for allegedly engaging in illegal investment and other capital market infractions, suggestive of a covert Ponzi scheme.

The capital market regulator said the action  was taken as part of efforts to rid the capital market in the country of fraudulent  operators and create a veritable opportunity for legitimate businesses to thrive in the system.

About three million Nigerians lost N18 billion in the Ponzi scheme, popularly called Mavrodi Mundial Movement (MMM) a few years ago.

In a statement issued yesterday,  SEC said  the office of Ready Finance Investors Limited situated at Flat  5, AYA Memorial Plaza, Nkwere  Street, Area 11, Garki, Abuja was sealed off  for offering a range of financial investment services and schemes suggestive of a covert Ponzi scheme.

According to SEC, the scheme entices clients with promises of fixed returns on investment, contingent upon the specific package to which a client subscribes, the Commission said.

The company, it said, is not registered with the Commission to conduct any activities in the capital market, thereby rendering its operations and activities  illegal, adding  that the matter is currently under the purview of law enforcement agencies for criminal investigation and subsequent prosecution.

“The matter is currently under the purview of law enforcement agencies for criminal investigation and subsequent prosecution,” SEC said, warning  that any person subscribing to any of the company’s products/schemes or dealing with it in any capital market-related business was doing so at his/her own risk.

SEC stressed that in addition to sealing off the premises of offenders, other efforts to curb the operations of illegal capital market operators in Nigeria include the amendment of its Anti Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Financing (AML/CFT/CPF) Regulation 2022 in line with the findings from the National Residual Risk Assessment (NRRA) exercise; New frameworks on the implementation of Targeted Financial Sanctions (TFS), Risk-based Supervision and guidance on Politically Exposed Persons (PEPs).