SEC v. Diverse Financial Corp., Dekel and Kandell (ponzi schemes, 2015)

Settled

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The SEC's October 2015 case against Diverse Financial Corporation, CEO Roy Dekel and former president David Kandell over a premium-finance note offering ended in consent final judgments filed on 8 December 2016 in the Central District of California. Dekel owes $2,717,758.20 in disgorgement (jointly with the company), $108,023.57 in interest and a $455,994.78 penalty; Kandell $260,363 and an $89,078 penalty. The company's own judgment was not read.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$545k

Disgorgement

$3m

Prejudgment interest

$108k

Total relief

$3.6m

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 October 28, 2015 in the Central District of California, alleges that investors were told the money would fund premium finance lending, but it was diverted to Diverse Financial's operations and used for payments to other investors, and that Kandell should have known the use of funds was misdescribed. Ponzi-like payments are one allegation among several in a mainly misuse-of-proceeds case.

The allegations are unproven and nothing had been ordered. The record had the status unknown and the lead name ending "et al."

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.

Both men consented to the judgments, which were filed on 8 December 2016. Dekel was enjoined from violating Section 17(a) and Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 and ordered to pay disgorgement of $2,717,758.20, jointly and severally with Diverse Financial Corporation, prejudgment interest of $108,023.57 and an individual civil penalty of $455,994.78, $3,281,776.55 in all. Kandell, who consented without admitting or denying, was ordered to pay disgorgement of $260,363 and a civil penalty of $89,078, $349,441 in all, within 365 days. The stored totals add the two men's amounts; I did not read the judgment against the company, so I cannot tell whether any of Kandell's figure overlaps with the company's joint amount.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary documents linked above. This page summarises the structured record and does not reproduce them.

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. 2015-10-29 Litigation release published
2. 2016-12-08 Consent final judgments filed as to Dekel and Kandell (C.D. Cal.)

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 Roy Dekel (8 Dec 2016)
• Final judgment including monetary relief as to David Kandell (8 Dec 2016)

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.