A Wilmington man is accused of running a decade-long “Ponzi scheme” that resulted in the loss of at least $2 million in investments, according to a complaint filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The complaint, which was filed earlier this week, claims that from December 2012 to February 2022, 55-year-old Shawn Edward Good, of Wilmington, solicited funds from clients to his personal bank account for “low-risk investments,” which he then used for personal expenses.
The SEC claims Good “defrauded his clients” of at least $4.8 million — some of which he used to repay his earlier investors, and toward four cars, $800,000 in credit-card bills, international travel and Venmo transfers.
The regulator’s complaint details how Good used salacious subject lines in his e-mails to clients including “because youre sexy” and “Hotel for Destiny.” He also claimed his investments were low-risk and would offer returns ranging from 6% to 10% over three to six months periods.
Good, however, failed to provide written agreements to investors, the SEC wrote.
According to the complaint, made public on Monday, Good was terminated from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, LLC in February for “refusing to cooperate with an internal review.” The claim says Good invoked the Fifth Amendment during investigative testimony to “virtually every question.”
Good is accused of defrauding at least five victims. Among Good’s alleged victims are a single mother of two sons, a retired violin teacher and two other retirees. According to the complaint, many of the alleged victims had “limited investment experience.”
Alleged North Carolina victims hit hard
One alleged victim — a 41-year-old Carolina Beach single mother — claims she transferred more than $1.3 million to Good over 20 months. Instead of investing these funds as agreed, Good is accused of using her investments to pay another investor and for his own expenses.
Good is also accused of defrauding this alleged victim’s mother — a 69-year-old…
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Wanda Beck
View More PostsWanda Beck is a technology reporter who covers the intersection of business and crypto. A native of Boston, Wanda spent almost five years at The Boston25News, where she wrote extensively about the media industry's struggle to adapt to the Internet.
