The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says a Palm Beach Gardens investment advisory firm and 2 of its executives settled charges of running a $28 million Ponzi scheme.

The SEC alleges that Trade-LLC, and its managing members, Philip W. Milton and William Center, convinced three private investment clubs, with more than 800 members nationwide, to entrust Trade-LLC with money so that it can trade securities on the clubs’ behalf using its purported proprietary software trading program. Trade-LLC raised almost $28 million from the clubs and throughout the course of the scheme, claimed that it was profitably trading securities for them. In fact, Trade-LLC was incurring significant trading losses and Milton and Center were allegedly using the funds Trade-LLC received from the clubs to pay fictitious trading profits to them. Milton and Center also misappropriated the clubs’ monies to pay their salaries and other personal and business expenses.

“They then blatantly lied to the clubs about the returns that were being achieved and hid the clubs’ losses by running a Ponzi scheme,” said Eric I. Bustillo, director of the SEC’s Miami office.

source >>>> http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2010/lr21564.htm