SEC v. Loren W. Holzhueter and Insurance Service Center (ponzi schemes, 2015)

Settled

✓ 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.

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In January 2015 the SEC sued Wisconsin insurance broker Loren W. Holzhueter and his firm Insurance Service Center, alleging a Ponzi scheme that raised at least $10.4 million from about 120 investors, and obtained a temporary restraining order. On October 20, 2016 the court entered a consent final judgment against his estate ordering disgorgement to be satisfied by surrendering listed assets and insurance proceeds; no dollar total is stated.

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 complaint, filed January 21, 2015 in the Western District of Wisconsin, alleges the investors were told their money would go into separate accounts or to buy other agencies but was deposited in general accounts, used for payroll, bank debts and payments to Holzhueter, and for interest and principal owed to earlier investors. It also alleges they hid that the IRS had seized the firm's records.

The temporary restraining order froze assets and barred new fundraising. The record had the status unknown and the 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.

Outcome. The Western District of Wisconsin docket shows a Final Judgment as to Defendant The Estate of Loren W. Holzhueter, entered October 20, 2016 (Judge James Peterson), on the estate's consent and without admitting or denying the allegations. It orders disgorgement and prejudgment interest satisfied by relinquishing life insurance proceeds held with the court, about $1.03 million in loans to the firm by the defendant or his wife, $88,309 in loans by another entity, the firm ISC, Inc., Honefi, LLC and his marital share of two bank accounts ($2,113 and $3,432). No single dollar figure for disgorgement or any penalty is stated, so none is stored. An SEC whistleblower notice on the case lists a qualifying judgment or order dated December 21, 2016, which probably concerns another defendant; we did not open that order. This outcome therefore covers the Holzhueter estate only. The firm and the relief defendants were not checked.

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. 2015-01-29 Litigation release published
2. 2016-10-20 Consent final judgment against the Estate of Loren W. Holzhueter (W.D. Wis.)

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 the Estate of Loren W. Holzhueter (W.D. Wis. 15-cv-45, Dkt. 195)

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.