Screenshot of Johanna Michely Garcia of MJ Capital Funding, that was punished onDec 3, 2024, to two decades behind bars in a Ponzi plan.
Source: MJ Capital
A Florida female that begged guilty in a Ponzi plan that brought in almost $200 million was punished Tuesday to two decades behind bars.
Johanna Garcia, 41, of Broward County, got the maximum possible sentence for one matter of conspiracy theory to devote cord scams and mail scams. Twenty- 8 various other matters from her charge were disregarded, according to court filings in united state District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Judge Jose Martinez additionally punished Garcia to 3 years of monitored launch and a $100 unique analysis, plus extra restitution that will certainly be identified March 3, according to the instance docket.
Garcia managed MJ Capital Funding, which fraudulently obtained capitalists to money its supposed company of giving temporary, high-cost fundings called vendor cash loan, or MCAs, government district attorneys stated in a news release.
She and her accomplices made “false statements and fraudulent representations” to capitalists concerning the nature of their financial investment and just how the cash would certainly be utilized, the district attorneys stated.
Investors were informed that their cash would certainly money MCAs which returns on their financial investment would certainly be paid from the revenues of the MCA company. Garcia and her accomplices wrongly assured substantial returns at a yearly price of 120%, according to the charge.
But her firm “made few loans and failed to earn anywhere near the profits it needed to pay the investors the promised returns,” district attorneys stated in Tuesday’s launch.
“As a result, Garcia paid investors by running a large Ponzi fraud scheme, paying existing investors using new investor funds while misappropriating millions of dollars for her own personal benefit.”
The illegal conspiracy theory, which occurred in between October 2020 and August 2021, netted at the very least $190.7 million. Of that complete, capitalists shed almost $90 million, district attorneys stated.
In 2021, capitalists in MJ Capital submitted a legal action implicating Wells Fargo Bank of helping the scams plan by stopping working to follow its very own anti-money-laundering plans. The financial institution in March 2023 consented to resolve the match for $26.6 million, Law360 reported.
Garcia’s companion, Pavel Ramon Ruiz Hernandez, was butted in August 2022 and begged guilty in April 2023 to one matter of conspiracy theory to devote cord scams. He was punished in September 2023 to 9 years and 2 months behind bars, plus 3 years of monitored launch.
Prosecutors stated Tuesday that after MJ Capital was closed down by the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission, Garcia, Ruiz Hernandez and others introduced a brand-new, comparable Ponzi plan in autumn 2021.
Garcia led this brand-new plan from its begin, “up until her arrest [in August 2023], and after, while in Bureau of Prisons custody,” according to district attorneys.
The brand-new plan– utilizing entities called New Beginning Global Funding LLC and New Beginning Capital Funding LLC, to name a few– engaged Garcia and her companions informing capitalists that they would certainly be moneying business fundings.
“In truth, the money raised was used to pay off previous investors, and fund Garcia and her coconspirators’ lifestyles,” district attorneys stated.
In aNov 27 punishing memorandum, Garcia’s lawyers recommended that Ruiz Hernandez was efficiently real leader of the plan. They additionally said that Garcia’s succeeding conduct via New Beginning, “though deeply misguided and plainly wrong, was motivated by a desire to pay back her former investors.”
The UNITED STATE Attorney’s Office, in its very own memorandum submitted Monday, declined that characterization and prompted the court to sentence Garcia to 240 months’ jail time.
“The evidence overwhelmingly shows that Garcia was the leader/organizer of the two Ponzi schemes that defrauded over 15,400 victims out of an actual loss amount of nearly $90 million,” district attorneys composed.
Attorneys from the Federal Public Defender’s Office standing for Garcia did not quickly react to’s ask for talk about the sentence.
— ‘s Dan Mangan added to this record.
