Entrepreneur Club Members Victimized in Ponzi Scheme, SEC Says

Two men raised more than $10 million from 23 investors, mostly members of a private entrepreneurs’ group, for a purported small-business loan venture that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, the SEC alleges.

Joel Natario and Jefferson Scott “Patch” Baker paid early investors’ returns from later investors’ funds and enriched themselves, the Securities and Exchange Commission says. The commission filed its complaint Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of Nevada.

Natario and Baker allegedly met at the $25,000-per-year membership group in 2019 and discussed the merchant cash advance business idea. They began the Ponzi scheme associated ...