U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 22828 / October 2, 2013
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jeremy Fisher, The Good Life Financial Group, Inc., and The Good Life Global, LLC, Civil Action No. 3:13-cv-00683 (W.D. Wisc., filed September 30, 2013)
SEC Charges Former La Crosse, Wisconsin Resident with Fraud
On September 30, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Jeremy S. Fisher and his companies, The Good Life Financial Group, Inc. and The Good Life Global, LLC, with violations of the federal securities laws for conducting fraudulent, unregistered offerings of securities and misappropriating investor funds to pay Fisher's personal expenses. The Commission's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, seeks permanent injunctions and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest against all of the defendants and civil penalties against Fisher.
The Commission's complaint alleges that from August 2009 through December 2012, Fisher, formerly of La Crosse, Wisconsin, raised approximately $1.04 million from approximately 18 investors who invested in unregistered securities offerings conducted by Fisher through his companies. Fisher offered investors the opportunity to invest their money through a "special trading platform" that supposedly generated significant returns. Fisher told investors that their money would be deposited in an overseas bank account and used as collateral for the purchase and sale of collateralized debt obligations and medium term notes on the trading platform. Before soliciting investors, Fisher conducted almost no due diligence into the trading platform. The brief internet search he conducted suggested that the trading platform was actually a scam. Fisher never told investors about what his search had revealed. The trading platform never produced any returns to the investors. Fisher knew this, but he nevertheless continued to solicit investors.
The complaint further alleges that after transferring the funds of early investors to the purported trading platform, Fisher began misappropriating subsequent investors' funds for his personal use. Of the $1.04 million that Fisher raised, he only sent approximately $155,000 to the purported trading platform. Fisher used at least $166,000 of investor funds to pay previous investors their purported returns or principal. He used the other $880,000 of investor funds for his personal use, including $123,000 to purchase a house, $27,000 to purchase a car, and at least $13,600 to pay for his daughter's college tuition. Virtually all of the investors' funds are gone.
As a result of their conduct, the SEC's complaint charged Fisher, Good Life Financial, and Good Life Global with violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The complaint also charged Fisher with violations of Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act.
The defendants have entered into consents with the Commission agreeing to the entry by the Court of the relief requested in the complaint, including orders of permanent injunction and disgorgement, plus prejudgment, totaling $936,226 to be paid jointly and severally among the defendants. Fisher has also agreed to pay a civil penalty of $150,000.
