SEC v. Patrick Churchville and ClearPath Wealth Management (ponzi schemes, 2017)

Judgment entered

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This March 2017 SEC release reported Patrick Churchville's seven-year prison sentence. In the SEC's civil case, a final judgment of June 1, 2022 ordered him to pay $29.1 million in disgorgement, $4.6 million in interest and a $225,000 penalty, and a March 29, 2024 judgment against ClearPath Wealth Management ordered $22.6 million in disgorgement, jointly with him.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$225k

Disgorgement

$29.1m

Prejudgment interest

$4.6m

Total relief

$33.9m

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

Churchville pleaded guilty to five counts of wire fraud and one of tax evasion, and was also ordered to do 2,000 hours of community service. The SEC's May 2015 complaint alleges he and ClearPath diverted deposits to pay other investors and converted funds.

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. SEC releases report that on June 1, 2022 the District of Rhode Island entered a final judgment against Churchville with a permanent injunction, $29,103,738 in disgorgement, $4,577,810 in prejudgment interest and a $225,000 civil penalty. On March 29, 2024 it entered a final judgment against ClearPath Wealth Management with an injunction and $22,553,095 in disgorgement, for which the release describes joint liability with Churchville. Because the ClearPath amount overlaps his, only Churchville's figures are recorded. His criminal sentence of seven years (84 months) follows his guilty plea to five counts of wire fraud and one of tax evasion. Both named respondents are covered. Checked on 2026-10-04.

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. 2017-03-17 Litigation release published
2. 2022-06-01 Final judgment against Patrick Churchville
3. 2024-03-29 Final judgment against ClearPath Wealth Management

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 on the Churchville judgment (LR-25417)
• SEC litigation release on the ClearPath judgment (LR-25966)

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. submit a correction.