SEC v. Christian J. Gonzalez (ponzi schemes, 2022)

Settled

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In September 2022 the SEC sued Christian Gonzalez over an alleged Ponzi scheme. A consent final judgment entered on February 5, 2024 orders disgorgement of $200,000 and prejudgment interest of $19,067.39, with $159,936 offset by the forfeiture ordered in the parallel criminal case. He is left owing $59,131.39 to the SEC.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$200k

Prejudgment interest

$19.1k

Total relief

$219k

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 September 27, 2022 as release LR-25527. The complaint alleges that Gonzalez, a purported loan underwriter at MJ Capital Funding, misstated to its sales agents how many loans the company had made when only a small fraction of the $196 million raised had been lent out. The SEC separately charged MJ Capital with running a Ponzi scheme.

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.

Outcome. The final judgment as to Christian Gonzalez (S.D. Fla. No. 0:22-cv-61824, docket entry 20, signed February 5, 2024) recites that he consented to entry without findings. It enjoins him under the antifraud and related provisions and orders disgorgement of $200,000 and prejudgment interest of $19,067.39; $159,936 of that is offset by the money forfeiture ordered against him in the criminal case, so the amount payable to the SEC is $59,131.39. I found no civil penalty in the judgment and no sentence is stated in it.

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. 2022-09-27 Litigation release published
2. 2024-02-05 Final consent judgment entered (disgorgement $200,000, interest $19,067.39, partly offset by criminal forfeiture)

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
• Final judgment as to Christian J. Gonzalez (S.D. Fla.)

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.