Traffic Monsoon Assets Stay Frozen in Wake of $173M Ponzi Suit

The assets of a Utah internet traffic exchange firm will stay frozen because the SEC will likely prove the company engaged in a Ponzi scheme that cost investors at least $173 million, the Tenth Circuit said Jan. 24.

Charles Scoville and his firm, Traffic Monsoon LLC, wanted the freeze and a related injunction and receivership dropped because they said their bundled advertising services, called “Adpacks,” weren’t investments. Consequently, they weren’t subject to federal securities laws, they said.

But the bundles, which promised purchasers a 10 percent return in exchange for clicks on other customers’ online ads, functioned as investment contracts, ...