SEC v. Phil Donnahue Williamson (ponzi schemes, 2015)

Settled

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 3, 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.

Report an error in this record (sec-phil-donnahue-williamson-ponzi-schemes-2015) by email

In June 2015 the SEC announced a consent final judgment in the Southern District of Florida against investment adviser Phil Donnahue Williamson, ordering $748,050 in disgorgement, in a case alleging he ran the Sterling Investment Fund as a Ponzi scheme.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$748k

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$748k

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 complaint, filed June 1, 2015, alleges Williamson told retirees, including teachers and law enforcement officers, the fund was risk-free with annual returns of 8 to 12 percent, used most of its assets for personal expenses and payments to other investors, and sent fictitious valuations. He settled, and on June 2 the court enjoined him under the Advisers Act and ordered disgorgement. Federal prosecutors announced parallel criminal charges.

The record showed no money and a judgment status; the order was by consent.

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.

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. 2015-06-23 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.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.