SEC Halts New Hampshire Ponzi Scheme That Offered 200% Annual Returns

The Securities and Exchange Commission (the "Commission") charged a Canadian resident and his New Hampshire business with operating a fraudulent Ponzi scheme that took in over $1 million from investors.  Henry Roche, through his company New Futures Trading International Corporation, was charged with multiple violations of federal securities laws in connection with the sale of unregistered securities.  The Commission is currently seeking injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and civil monetary penalties.

Since at least 2008, Roche operated an internet-based stock and futures day-trading business.  Through New Futures Trading International Corporation ("New Futures"), Roche solicited investors by, among other means, YouTube videos, in the United States and Canada for the purchase and sale of high-yield promissory notes with promised monthly returns ranging from 5% to 10%.  Roche represented that investor funds would be used to purchase bonds, treasury notes, and/or treasury futures contracts.  Additionally, some investors were told that their funds would be invested directly in New Futures, which Roche described as an online futures day-trading education and training business located in Canada.  In total, Roche raised $1.3 million from fourteen investors. However, the vast majority of investor funds were used for non-investment purposes, including the payment of nearly $900,000 to investors in the form of purported interest payments and nearly $350,000 to pay the costs of Roche's horse-breeding ranch in Kendal, Ontario, Canada.

According to the Commission, Roche continues to operate the business under a series of names including Masters Palace, Inc., and Third Realm Institute.  As a result, the Commission announced it had obtained a temporary asset freeze of the operation during the pendency of the investigation.

A copy of the SEC Complaint is here.