SEC v. Patrick Churchville, et al. (ponzi schemes, 2022)

Judgment entered

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In 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a judgment against Patrick Churchville, et al., alleging conduct this library classifies as ponzi schemes. The release records a civil penalty of $225,000, disgorgement of $29.1 million, prejudgment interest of $4.6 million. A parallel criminal matter produced a custodial sentence of 84 months.

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 June 9, 2022 as release LR-25417. The respondents named are Patrick Churchville, et al. (1 individual, 0 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, District of Rhode Island.

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 relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $225,000, disgorgement of $29.1 million, prejudgment interest of $4.6 million. Penalty and disgorgement are distinct: disgorgement returns the gain, while the penalty is punitive. We store them separately so that aggregate figures across the library are not double-counted.

A parallel criminal proceeding is referenced, with a custodial sentence of 84 months recorded. Criminal and civil outcomes are tracked separately throughout this site.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

Money note: the dollar amounts in this record's text describe the June 2022 final judgment against Churchville; to avoid counting the same amounts twice, the money fields are left empty here and the figures are held on the record for the same case under release LR-23781 (sec-patrick-churchville-et-al-ponzi-schemes-2017).

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. 2022-06-09 Litigation release published

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

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.