Market Manipulation. Search

SEC v. Brian Callahan, Adam Manson and others (ponzi schemes, 2023)

Judgment entered

Checked against the primary document on October 3, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

Report an error in this record (sec-brian-raymond-callahan-et-al-ponzi-schemes-2023) by email

In May 2023 the SEC announced a judgment against Brian Callahan, Adam Manson and 2 others. On 12 May 2023 the court entered final judgments by consent enjoining Callahan, Manson and Manson's two entities over a Ponzi scheme in which Callahan raised over $90 million for five offshore funds. Callahan was sentenced to 12 years in a parallel criminal case and Manson to two years.

The record

Structured fields for this action, as recorded in our case library.
Agency SEC
Release number LR-25728
Date filed 2023-05-17
Date resolved 2023-05-17
Court U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
Status judgment
Criminal parallel Yes: sentenced (Brian R. Callahan (sentenced 2017; Adam Manson sentenced to 24 months in October 2022)), U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York
Sentence 12 years
Defendants Brian Callahan (individual) ; Adam Manson (individual) ; Distinctive Investments, LLC (entity) ; Distinctive Ventures, LLC (entity)
Techniques Ponzi schemes

What was ordered

Civil penalty
—
Disgorgement
—
Prejudgment interest
—
Total relief
—
Alleged gain
—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on May 17, 2023 as release LR-25728. On 12 May 2023 the court entered final judgments by consent enjoining Callahan, Manson and Manson's two entities over a Ponzi scheme in which Callahan raised over $90 million for five offshore funds. Callahan was sentenced to 12 years in a parallel criminal case and Manson to two years.

This library tags the matter as a Ponzi scheme because the document describes returns to earlier investors paid from later investors' money, as alleged or found. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

A parallel criminal proceeding is referenced. Civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

Timeline

  1. 2023-05-17 Litigation release published

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Action Agency Filed Technique Penalty Status
SEC v. Mark D. Hanf and Hoai-Nam Chu Phan (ponzi schemes, 2026) SEC 2026-09-04 Ponzi Schemes — settled
SEC v. Leor Moshe, Jacob Goldman, Isaac Odes (ponzi schemes, 2026) SEC 2026-08-13 Ponzi Schemes — filed
CFTC v. Goliath Ventures, Inc. and Christopher Delgado (ponzi schemes, 2026) CFTC 2026-08-11 Ponzi Schemes — filed
SEC v. Goliath Ventures, Inc. and Christopher A. Delgado (ponzi schemes, 2026) SEC 2026-08-11 Ponzi Schemes — filed
SEC v. Aras Investment Business Group S.A.P.I. de C.V. and others (ponzi schemes, 2026) SEC 2026-07-24 Ponzi Schemes $449k judgment
CFTC v. Trevor L. Vernon and Argent Capital Management LLC (ponzi schemes, 2026) CFTC 2026-07-07 Ponzi Schemes — filed

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.