SEC v. David B. Kaplan and Synchronized Organizational Solutions (ponzi schemes, 2016)

Settled

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In May 2016 the SEC sued David Kaplan and three entities he controlled over an alleged $15.8 million investment fraud. On January 8, 2018 a Nevada federal court entered consent final judgments requiring $7.14 million in disgorgement, $680,158 in prejudgment interest and a $300,000 penalty.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$300k

Disgorgement

$7.1m

Prejudgment interest

$680k

Total relief

$8.1m

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 complaint, filed May 19, 2016 in the District of Nevada, alleges Kaplan promised monthly profits of about 10 percent from an off-shore trading program and instead spent money on a condominium, foreign citizenship fees and transfers to his wife and a foundation, and put at least $360,000 into a separate scheme. A May 20 order froze assets of Kaplan, the entities and relief defendants.

The allegations are unproven. The record had a criminal parallel the release does not state, and the status unknown.

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes because the document describes payments to earlier participants made from later participants' money. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

SEC litigation release 24027 reports that on January 8, 2018 the District of Nevada entered a final judgment on consent against Kaplan and the entities Synchronized Organizational Solutions International Ltd., Synchronized Organizational Solutions LLC and Manna International Enterprises Ltd. They did not admit or deny the allegations. The judgments enjoin further violations and order disgorgement of $7,139,884.87, prejudgment interest of $680,157.61 and a $300,000 civil penalty. Separate judgments against relief defendants (Lisa Kaplan, the Water-Walking Foundation and Manna Investments) total $1,533,440.61 in disgorgement and interest; relief defendants are not wrongdoing defendants, and that sum is not in the fields on this page. The release says frozen funds will partly satisfy the obligations. Checked on 2026-10-04.

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. 2016-05-27 Litigation release published
2. 2018-01-08 Consent final judgments entered against Kaplan and three entities (SEC LR-24027)

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 litigation release 24027 (consent judgments)

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.