SEC v. Brook Church-Koegel, et al. (ponzi schemes, 2020)

Settled

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 4, 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-brook-church-koegel-et-al-ponzi-schemes-2020) by email

A consent judgment entered on April 11, 2024 permanently enjoins Woodbridge salesperson Brook Church-Koegel from registration violations, and in May 2026 the SEC suspended him from the industry for twelve months. The outcomes for David Goldman and Nicole Walker were not checked.

The record

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 SEC announced the complaint on March 5, 2020 (LR-24759) in the Southern District of Florida, from June 2014 to December 2017. It charges Securities Act Sections 5(a) and 5(c) and Exchange Act Section 15(a)(1).

The record named the defendants as "Brook Church-Koegel, et al."; the three are now listed. The tag is retained pending the lead's decision on unregistered sellers of third-party Ponzi products.

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes because the document describes it as a scheme paying earlier investors with later investors' money. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

Outcome. An SEC administrative order of May 13, 2026, issued on Church-Koegel's settlement offer, records that a consent judgment was entered on April 11, 2024 against him in the civil action, permanently enjoining him from violating Sections 5(a) and 5(c) and the broker registration provision. The order, which does not state a money figure for the court case, suspends him from association with brokers, dealers and advisers for twelve months. It cites a Central District of California case number, which differs from the Florida number in the original release. The claims against the other two named defendants were not checked.

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.

• Ponzi schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2020-03-05 Litigation release published
2. 2024-04-11 Consent judgment entered against Church-Koegel (as recited in SEC administrative order)
3. 2026-05-13 SEC suspends Church-Koegel from association for twelve months

Primary documents

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

• SEC litigation release
• SEC administrative order against Brook Church-Koegel

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.

Related actions

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

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.