BULLETIN: (UPDATED 4:58 P.M. EDT (U.S.A.) The state of Utah has proposed that Rayda Roundy of Hurricane be fined $81,250 and ordered to cease and desist from selling securities unlawfully in the state for her alleged role in hawking Safevest LLC.
In May 2008, the SEC described Safevest as a fraud- and Ponzi-like scheme that had gathered at least $25 million in part by targeting the Christian community.
Roundy later became a figure in the AdSurfDaily Ponzi scheme story. In August 2008, the U.S. Secret Service described ASD as a massive Ponzi scheme operating online. By April 2012, Roundy was tied in court filings in the ASD case to the mysterious “OneX” scheme, which federal prosecutors described as a financial pyramid that was recycling money in ASD-like fashion.
ASD’s Andy Bowdoin started pitching OneX while he was awaiting trial on Ponzi-related charges flowing from the ASD case. Federal prosecutors said ASD had gathered at least $119 million in its scam. Bowdoin was sentenced in August 2012 to 78 months in federal prison.
In September 2008 — just a month after the Secret Service had seized more than $80 million in the ASD Ponzi case — the Utah Division of Securities accused Roundy in a civil filing of hawking Safevest unlawfully. Roundy denied the assertions.
The case dragged on from 2008 into 2013. Roundy missed a hearing scheduled for March 6 after being warned the presiding officer would hold her in default if she did not attend, the state said.
Utah proposed that the fine could be used to provide restitution. Roundy’s alleged Safevest target was described only as “ME.”
In August 2011, the court-appointed receiver in the Safevest case announced that he “does not anticipate any distributions to the investor/victims as no significant funds have been recovered or are anticipated.”
News about the proposed sanctions against Roundy occur against the backdrop of Investor Alerts or cease-and-desist orders being issued in at least 33 states and provinces in the United States and Canada against the Profitable Sunrise “program.”
Profitable Sunrise allegedly was targeted at Christians. Its website has been offline for two weeks.