Ponzi scheme allegedly raised more than $170 million from approximately 1,100 investors.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged a Florida business owner for unlawfully selling securities of real estate firm EquiAlt LLC to retail investors, many of whom were elderly people who invested through their individual retirement accounts (IRAs).
DeAndre Sears, who resided in Las Vegas, and his company MASears LLC, which does business as Picasso Group, were charged with registration violations. The SEC previously filed an enforcement action against EquiAlt, CEO Brian Davison, and Managing Director Barry Rybicki in connection with the alleged scheme.
According to the SEC’s complaint, between 2014 and 2020, Sears sold at least $25 million of EquiAlt’s securities to more than 145 investors who were mainly unaccredited, unsophisticated, and elderly. During those years, Sears was identified in EquiAlt private placement memoranda as the company’s managing director of