SEC v. Merrill, et al. (ponzi schemes, 2018)

Alleged — pending

These are allegations. SEC has filed an action; nothing in it has been proven, and the respondents have not been found liable. Everything described on this page is what the regulator alleges, not what a court has found. See our editorial policy.

✓ 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 October 2018 a Maryland federal judge entered a preliminary injunction against Kevin Merrill, Jay Ledford, Cameron Jezierski and their entities over an alleged $345 million Ponzi-like scheme. By October 2022 the SEC had final judgments against Ledford, Jezierski and several entities, but its case against Merrill, the lead defendant, was still ongoing, so this record stays at filed.

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 SEC announced the preliminary injunction on October 11, 2018 (LR-24313). An asset freeze and receiver were ordered in September 2018. The complaint alleges fabricated documents and forged signatures were used to attract investors, and that their money went to payments to earlier investors and to lavish spending rather than debt purchases. The defendants are charged under Section 17 of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5; the complaint asked for disgorgement, interest and penalties.

The record named the defendants as "Merrill, et al."; the three individuals are now listed.

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.

Later SEC releases show a partial outcome. In September 2019 Merrill, Ledford and Jezierski agreed to bifurcated settlements that enjoin them, leaving money remedies to the court. In October 2022 the SEC announced final judgments against eight defendants and a relief defendant: Ledford and six entities are jointly liable for $183,973,833 in disgorgement and $5,671,794 in prejudgment interest, and Jezierski owes $105,000 and $2,913, all deemed satisfied by receiver recoveries and criminal restitution. Merrill pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 264 months in prison, recorded here, and Ledford to 168 months; Jezierski received 24 months. The October 2022 release says litigation against Merrill and his wife continued, and we did not find a later release, so the status stays filed and the money fields stay empty. This record and the Kevin B. Merrill record describe the same civil case.

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. 2018-10-11 Litigation release published
2. 2019-09-13 Bifurcated settlements with Merrill, Ledford and Jezierski approved (injunctions; money remedies reserved)
3. 2022-10-18 SEC announces final judgments against eight defendants and one relief defendant; litigation against Kevin and Amanda Merrill continues

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 LR-24593 (bifurcated settlements)
• SEC litigation release LR-25561 (final judgments)

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 4 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. If this matter has since resolved, been withdrawn or been dismissed, we want to know: submit a correction.