Daniel Spitzer charged with a $105 million Ponzi scheme by the SEC

Daniel Spitzer, a fund manager, has had his assets, and those of his companies freezed by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission in what is believed to be a $105 million Ponzi scheme.

The Fund Manager a U.S. citizen residing in St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) said his offshore Ponzi scheme, was on the verge of collapse but he was still collecting money. The SEC has charged him with fraud.

Several international authorities assisted in the probe, the SEC said.

"Daniel Spitzer ran an elaborate Ponzi scheme that he disguised by moving investor money through a complex network of foreign bank and brokerage accounts," said Merri Jo Gillette, director of the SEC's Chicago Regional Office. "He deceived investors into believing that he was using a sophisticated investment strategy that didn't really exist."

According to a complaint filed in federal court in Chicago, Daniel Spitzer raised the sum from about 400 investors who were told their money would be invested mainly in foreign currency.

A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to separate investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors, rather than from any actual profit earned.