The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued a Utah man who allegedly defrauded investors who thought they were investing in a payday loan business that was really a Ponzi scheme..
The SEC sued John Clark, of Hyde Park, Utah, and his businesses, Impact Cash and Impact Payment systems in federal court. The suit charges that Clark promised his investors an 80 percent annual return on their money, which he supposedly was using to buy lists of potential customers and to fund payday loans.
In fact, says the suit, Clark spent the money on fancy cars, snowmobiles, an elaborate stereo system and other luxury items.
Concern about his activities grew in 2009 as investors had difficulty getting account statements, the SEC said.
Most victims received no documentation on their investment, the SEC said, and "Clark routinely altered investor account statements provided to him by Impact's accounting department, adjusting rates of return to create artificially high annual rates of return," the suit charged.
