The USA Securities and Change Fee has charged a former pastor and his spouse for stealing $500,000 via a trio of fraudulent companies, together wi
The USA Securities and Change Fee has charged a former pastor and his spouse for stealing $500,000 via a trio of fraudulent companies, together with a cryptocurrency providing purportedly backed by a bottled water enterprise.
In line with a grievance filed on April 2, the pair additionally bought pretend shares of their struggling water enterprise, Teshuater, along with conjuring up a non-existent Bitcoin (BTC) mining outfit to dupe buyers in Houston, Texas.
Former pastor gives 1,400% returns in a single day
The grievance alleges that Larry and Shuwana Leonard “focused buyers within the African-American group by promising outsized returns on numerous investments associated to Teshua”, a enterprise that bottled and distributed alkaline water.”
The SEC asserts that the previous Christian pastor “capitalized on his background as ‘a person of the material’ to achieve buyers’ belief,” and started defrauding buyers throughout Spring 2017.
Within the 45-year-old pair’s first scheme, “nugatory ‘inventory certificates’ that didn’t truly convey possession curiosity in Teshuater” had been issued in trade for roughly $291,000. Buyers had been promised “short-term funding returns of as much as 3,000 %” over only a few days.
The SEC states that Teshuater “earned little-to-no revenue since its inception,” and was touted to buyers as “the primary black-owned alkaline water firm.”
Leonard launches TeshuaCoin providing
An additional $170,400 was amassed from the sale of TeshuaCoin, a cryptocurrency that the couple claimed was backed by the gross sales of the Teshuater firm. The Leonards had focused a $20 million increase via the cryptocurrency.
Larry claimed to divert buyers’ funds right into a “high-yield, short-term Bitcoin-mining program” that didn’t exist — producing an additional $25,500.
The crypto scams had been promoted via social media, with the pair conducting Fb Stay webcasts purportedly on the subject of “wealth era for the African-American group.”
Greater than $500,000 stolen from parishioners
By December 2018, the scheme raised $500,000 from over 500 buyers complete, issuing “materially false and deceptive statements” relating to how buyers’ funds can be used.
The stolen funds had been commingled with Teshuater and different companies operated by the Leonards, earlier than being spent on a mix of private bills and different enterprise actions.
Not one of the funding contracts issued by the pair or the Teshua firm had been registered with the SEC. The pair should not licensed to concern securities.
The SEC is in search of a everlasting injunction, the disgorgement of all ill-gotten positive aspects plus prejudgement curiosity, and civil penalties in opposition to the pastor and his spouse.