Ponzi-scheme

Investors File Lawsuits in Southport Capital Ponzi Scam

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed suit on John Woods, a Georgian resident, who is accused of orchestrating a $110 Million fraud. The SEC has filed additional court documents to freeze Southport assets since the lawsuit was filed. The assets include cash and real property, but the details are not known.

Investors aren’t waiting for the SEC to return their money. They are filing their individual cases and not waiting. Many have filed claims with investment fraud lawyers to recover losses. Haselkorn & Thibaut, a national investor law firm, has started a claims investigation for investors.  They can be reached at  1-800-856-3352.

Ponzi-scheme
Ponzi-scheme

John Woods is being accused of running a massive Ponzi scheme that he ran for over a decade. Investors owed more than $110 million principal as of the end of this summer. More than 400 investors are from at least 20 states. These investors are often involved in investments known as Horizon Private Equity funds. John Woods is the subject of allegations by the government. They claim that Horizon did not make significant profits from legitimate investments and that a large portion of “returns” to investors earlier than this were just paid out of new investor funds.

According to Woods’ case, Southport representatives allegedly claimed that clients would get guaranteed returns of 6-7% in Horizon. Evidently, none of the funds from investors went to legitimate investments. Worse, the Securities and Exchange Commission stated in court documents that Woods’ assets and those of his entities, including Southport and Horizon were worth far less than it was possible to return investors principal or promise them a return.

According to the SEC’s complaint, Southport Capital is an SEC-registered investment advisory firm known as “Livingston Group Asset Management Company.” The firm boasts more than $824,000,000 in client assets. John Woods serves as the president and majority owner. According to public reports, Southport employs 45 people including 20 investment advisors, and serves 2,578 customers in ten states. Horizon Private Equity is a state of the SEC. It is managed by Woods, and there are no offices or employees. Woods is alleged to have raised funds for Horizon in 2008, and the first “investors” received interest payments until July 2021. Woods’ alleged fraud was described by the government as “ongoing” at the time.

Wood refused to cooperate with investigators from the government and revealed his dishonesty in court documents. According to court documents, Woods claimed to have no information on Horizon and gave “knowingly false” information. John J. Woods, the alleged mastermind behind the scam was a Georgia resident. He graduated from Georgia State University, Tennessee Tech University.

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