SEC v. Frantz Simeon and First Black Enterprises, Inc. (ponzi schemes, 2021)
Judgment entered
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.
In September 2021 the SEC sued Brooklyn man Frantz Simeon and his company First Black Enterprises over an alleged Ponzi-like offering that raised about $335,000. On January 12, 2026 the Eastern District of New York entered a default judgment against Simeon with an injunction, an officer-and-director bar and $292,932.83 in disgorgement, deemed satisfied by his criminal restitution order.
The record
| Agency | SEC |
|---|---|
| Release number | LR-25216 |
| Date filed | 2021-09-23 |
| Date resolved | 2026-01-12 |
| Court | U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York |
| Status | judgment |
| Criminal parallel | Yes: charged (Frantz Simeon), U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York, 2021-09-23 |
| Bars imposed | officer-and-director bar (Simeon) |
| Defendants | Frantz Simeon ; First Black Enterprises, Inc. |
| Cited as charged or alleged | Exchange Act s.10(b) and Rule 10b-5 ; Securities Act s.17(a) |
| Techniques | Ponzi schemes |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- —
- Disgorgement
- $293k
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- $293k
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
The SEC announced the complaint on September 23, 2021 (LR-25216) in the Eastern District of New York, covering April 2019 to February 2021. No judgment had been entered.
both are corrected.
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. The clerk's judgment of January 12, 2026 enters the court's January 9, 2026 decision granting the SEC's motion for default judgment against Simeon. It orders disgorgement of $292,932.83, deemed satisfied by the restitution order in his criminal case (United States v. Simeon, No. 21-CR-479, E.D.N.Y.), permanently enjoins him from further violations of the federal securities laws and bars him from serving as an officer or director of a public company. A default judgment means he did not contest the case, so the court accepted the complaint's allegations without a trial. The judgment names Simeon alone; First Black Enterprises, Inc. is not mentioned and its outcome was not checked, and the document does not give his sentence.
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
- 2021-09-23 Litigation release published
- 2026-01-12 Default judgment entered against Frantz Simeon
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.
Related actions
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 |