SEC v. Lester Burroughs (ponzi schemes, 2019)

Settled

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The District of Connecticut entered a final consent judgment on April 21, 2021 against former investment adviser Lester Burroughs, enjoining him and ordering $560,000 in disgorgement, deemed satisfied by his criminal restitution. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison in the parallel case.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$560k

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$560k

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 Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on December 5, 2019 as release LR-24681. The respondents named are Lester Burroughs (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 25078 (April 21, 2021) reports that the court entered a final judgment by consent, without admission or denial, enjoining Burroughs from violating the antifraud provisions of the Advisers Act and ordering disgorgement of $560,000, which is deemed satisfied by the $575,000 restitution order in the criminal case. He pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and on April 16, 2020 was sentenced to 33 months in prison. The release adds that the SEC had earlier 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. 2019-12-05 Litigation release published
2. 2021-04-21 Final consent judgment entered against Burroughs

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 25078 (final judgment)

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.