Speculative Trading Ponzi Cost Investors $9 Million, SEC Says

A purported fund manager and his firm took more than $9 million from investors through a speculative trading Ponzi scheme, the SEC said Wednesday in Massachusetts federal district court.

Damon Elliott and Piptastic Ltd. raised around $5.3 million from at least 30 American investors, the Securities and Exchange Commission complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts said. Elliott, a U.K. citizen believed to live in France, is Piptastic’s director, the SEC said.

Elliott falsely told investors he’d put their money toward spread trading, which involves speculating on the movement of a financial instrument’s price without ...