SEC v. Herman Ronnie Young, Jr. d/b/a Race Cycler (ponzi schemes, 2017)

Settled

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 3, 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-herman-ronnie-young-jr-d-b-a-race-cycler-ponzi-schemes-2017) by email

In January 2017 the SEC charged Herman Ronnie Young, Jr. of South Carolina with running Race Cycler, an online pyramid and Ponzi scheme that took over $1.3 million, and announced his settlement: an injunction, a conduct-based injunction and about $1.32 million in disgorgement and interest, of which $342,510 is payable based on his finances.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$1.3m

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$1.3m

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 January 26, 2017, alleges members paid $230 and recruited others for reward points, with rewards paid from later members' money, while the e-book products existed only to look legitimate. Young shut the site in February 2015 and agreed to admit wrongdoing. No civil penalty was imposed because of his cooperation, and the settlement needs court approval.

The record showed a criminal parallel the release does not state; the US Attorney's office is only thanked for assistance.

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.

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. 2017-01-27 Litigation release published

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

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.