SEC Halts $20 Million Colorado Ponzi Scheme

April 9th, 2009		\| More
The SEC announced yesterday that it has charged Shawn R. Merriman of Aurora, Colorado and his firm Market Street Advisors for defrauding investors. The SEC is alleging that the firm fraudulently obtained up to $20 million from at least 38 investors. After suffering losses in 1995 during his first year of operations, Mr. Merriman reportedly stopped trading securities and began using investor’s assets for his own personal use and to repay earlier investors. Mr. Merriman generated fictitious investor reports that touted annual returns ranging from 7 to 20 percent. The SEC complaint alleges that Merriman purchased “classic cars, motorcycles, motor homes, a cabin in Idaho, and fine art collections including works by Rembrandt that are worth millions of dollars.”

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Firm	Assets*
Madoff Investments LLC	64,800
Stanford Financial Group	8,000
Petters Group Worldwide	3,500
Frankel International & Frankel Chemical	1,200
Satyam Computer Services	1,000
Westgate Capital Management, LLC	900
Capitol Investments USA, Inc	900
Dreier LLP	700
WG Trading Co	554
Weavering Capital	500
*Estimate of alleged Fraud/Investor Losses ($MM)