A Princeton couple has been accused by New Jersey authorities of conducting a $5 million Ponzi scheme to finance a lavish lifestyle that entailed “tropical holidays, private schools as well as country clubs”. The New Jersey Bureau of Securities holding them accountable for several infringements of the law filed a lawsuit against Ford and Katherine Graham. The claim seeks relief for investors, the imposition of civil punishment, compensation and derange of profits.
Ford Graham commanded and operated numerous firms such as Vulcan Energy International, LLC, Rattler Partners, LLC, Aries Energy Group Venture, LLC, Specialty Fuels Americas, LLC, and CCC Holdings. Commencing in 2013, Graham encouraged financiers to the firms via guaranteeing that their money would be spent on oil and gas ventures bearing almost negligible risk. For instance, one purported job stated that financier funds would be used to obtain a commanding interest in a firm that allegedly had a hold against oil corporation British Petroleum drawn from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, which was worth $7-million to $9 million. Another investment prospect guaranteed 6% yearly returns from a “Dominican Republic Oil Transaction,” while some other investment assured that capital could be utilized to erect a tank. In nutshell, Graham earned more than $5 million from gullible financiers.
As per the New Jersey Bureau of Securities, Graham’s allegations were wrong and the truth is that financier funds were employed to commit a Ponzi plan where new financier funds were utilized for paying purported distributions and yields to existing financiers and funding the grand lifestyle of Graham’s. It declares the suspected embezzlement of funds from several investments, together with transfers to other shareholders and payments to the private school where the Grahams’ child studied, at the pair’s country club and to Katherine Graham who spent money for an Antiguan hotel. While Ford Graham is charged with playing the main role in recruiting financiers, Katherine Graham – who got a law degree from Tulane University – is accused of urging at least one purchaser to invest depending on the safety of the investment, which she was also planning to invest, and that period was of the character if the investor wanted to realize the promised return.
