The SEC has charged a podcast host for allegedly running a Ponzi scheme which claimed to offer low-risk, high-return promissory notes purportedly collateralized by first mortgages on homes located throughout Ohio.
Matthew Motil is the host of ‘The Cash Flow King’ podcast and the regulator says that he used this platform and websites to promote the investments, enticing more than 50 investors to part with $11 million.
Motil is said to have encouraged participation with the slogan “be a real estate investing badass!” and claimed that the investments were safe due to the “first lien position” backed by real estate assets.
The SEC complaint says that investors were promised “profits from renovating, reselling, refinancing, and renting the properties,” however it says that first liens were not secured and that investors were sold notes on the same property which was not renovated.
Instead, the regulator alleges that investments were used to make Ponzi payments to previous investors and to fund Motil’s extravagant lifestyle including renting a lakeside mansion, purchase courtside season tickets to NBA games, and make $400,000 in credit card payments for his wife, Amy Motil, who is named as a relief defendant.
“We allege that Motil used podcasts and social media platforms to bolster his reputation as an investing expert while fraudulently targeting investors’ hard-earned retirement assets, including, in at least one instance, almost the full balance of an investor’s self-directed IRA,” said Mark Cave, associate director of the SEC's enforcement division.
The accusations have not yet been proven in court.
The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, charges Motil with violating the registration and antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, civil money penalties, and an officer and director bar.
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