SEC Secures Emergency Relief in Alleged International Investment Fraud

The SEC filed an emergency action on February 18, 2011 against Secure Capital Funding Corporation, Bertram A. Hill, PP&M Trade Partners, and Kiavanni Pringle, to halt an alleged multi-million dollar international investment scheme that has defrauded investors in the United States and overseas. The Court issued a temporary restraining order freezing assets and ordering repatriation of investor funds.

The SEC alleged that in recent months defendants Secure Capital Funding Corporation, Bertram A. Hill, PP&M Trade Star Partners, and Kiavanni L. Pringle, defrauded investors of millions of dollars through the sale of fictitious Swiss “debentures.” According to the SEC’s complaint, defendants told investors that these securities were “risk-free” and would be used to establish highly leveraged margin accounts to trade other securities, and that investors would earn monthly returns of 10-100%. In reality, according to the SEC, these securities were fictitious and nearly $3 million of investor funds were quickly wired out of the country to accounts in Latvia and Jamaica.