SEC v. James T. Booth (ponzi schemes, 2019)

Settled

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The District of Connecticut entered a final consent judgment against former investment adviser James T. Booth on February 19, 2021, permanently enjoining him from further fraud violations. He had pleaded guilty in the parallel criminal case and been sentenced to 42 months in prison.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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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 30, 2019 as release LR-24629. The respondents named are James T. Booth (1 individual, 0 entities).

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The release references a parallel criminal proceeding. Where a criminal case exists, the civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

Outcome. Litigation release 25033 (February 22, 2021) reports that on February 19, 2021 the court entered a final judgment by consent, permanently enjoining Booth from violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act, the Exchange Act and the Advisers Act. The judgment document itself contains no disgorgement or penalty figure; it lists the injunctions and says the complaint's allegations are taken as true for bankruptcy-discharge purposes. The release adds that Booth pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud, was sentenced on November 18, 2020 to 42 months in prison and was ordered to forfeit $4,969,689, and that the SEC had already barred him from the industry and from penny stock offerings.

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. 2019-09-30 Litigation release published
2. 2021-02-19 Final judgment by consent entered

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 25033 (final judgment)
• Final judgment as to James T. Booth

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.

Same matter

The library links these 2 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.