SEC Obtains Asset Freeze in Ponzi Scheme Involving Loans to Professional Athletes

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against a former professional football player and others, alleging they operated a Ponzi scheme that raised more than $31 million from investors who were promised profits from loans to professional athletes.

The SEC’s complaint was unsealed late yesterday.  It was filed under seal in federal court in Boston on April 1, and the court entered an asset freeze and other preliminary relief that same day against the defendants.

According to the SEC’s complaint, former professional football player William ("Will") D. Allen and his business partner Susan C. Daub claimed to make loans to professional athletes who were short of cash.  Allen and Daub told investors that they could profit by funding the loans and receiving interest of up to 18 percent paid by the athletes.  The complaint alleges that from July 2012 through February 2015, the defendants paid approximately $20 million to investors while receiving a little more than $13 million in loan repayments from athletes.  To fill the nearly $7 million gap, Allen and Daub used money from some investors to pay other investors, the hallmark of a Ponzi scheme.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Allen of Davie, Fla., and Daub, a financial professional formerly of Acton, Mass. who now lives in Coral Springs, Fla, advanced approximately $18 million to athletes while raising more than $31 million from investors.  Allen and Daub allegedly misled investors about the terms, circumstances, and even the existence of some of the loans and used some investor funds to pay personal expenses such as charges at casinos and nightclubs, or to fund other business ventures.

“The defendants sold investors on the idea of lending money to pro athletes, but we allege that’s not where a large portion of the investors’ money went.  As in any Ponzi scheme, the appearance of a successful investment was only an illusion sustained by lies,” said Paul G. Levenson, Director of the SEC’s Boston Regional Office.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that Allen, Daub, Florida-based Capital Financial Partners Enterprises LLC, and Boston-based Capital Financial Partners LLC and Capital Financial Holdings LLC violated federal anti-fraud laws and related SEC anti-fraud rules. In addition to the relief obtained last week, the SEC is seeking a court order to restrain the defendants from violating the same laws and to require them to return their allegedly ill-gotten gains with interest and pay civil monetary penalties. 

Four other entities owned or controlled by Allen, Daub, or both are named in the complaint as relief defendants based on their receipt of investor funds.  The SEC is seeking to have the entities – WJBA Investments LLC, Insurance Depot of America LLC, Simplified Health Solutions LLC, and Simplified Health Solutions 2 LLC – return their allegedly ill-gotten gains with interest.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Michael J. Vito, Frank C. Huntington, Patrick Noone, and Celia D. Moore of the Boston Regional Office.