SEC v. Phillip W. Conley (2020)

Judgment entered

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In April 2020 the SEC sued former West Virginia broker Phillip Conley over a US$5.2 million fraudulent offering, and a parallel criminal indictment followed. The Northern District of West Virginia entered a consent injunction on 30 July 2021 and, on 6 April 2022, a final judgment for US$4,801,184 in disgorgement and US$397,075 in interest, nearly all treated as satisfied by a criminal restitution order.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$4.8m

Prejudgment interest

$397k

Total relief

$5.2m

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 SEC announced the indictment on September 3, 2020 (LR-24885); the civil case is in the Northern District of West Virginia. It alleges Conley lied about the use of proceeds, commingled funds and spent most on himself, using the remainder for some payments to earlier investors. The SEC's complaint asked for injunctions, disgorgement, interest and penalties.

The Ponzi tag is removed because the release describes a fraudulent offering and personal use, with Ponzi-like payments for the remainder only.

Outcome. A judgment filed on 30 July 2021 records Conley's consent to a permanent injunction against violating the Securities Act, Exchange Act and Advisers Act anti-fraud provisions, leaving money for later. The court's order and final judgment of 6 April 2022 then found him liable for US$4,801,184 in disgorgement and US$397,075 in prejudgment interest, a total of US$5,198,259, of which US$4,858,817 is deemed satisfied by the restitution order in United States v. Conley, leaving US$339,442. The order imposes no civil penalty.

What the sources do not show: the criminal outcome beyond that restitution order, including any sentence, is not in the documents opened, so none is recorded. The allegations in the complaint were resolved through the consent injunction and the court's later monetary order rather than a trial.

Timeline

1. 2020-09-03 Litigation release published
2. 2021-07-30 Consent judgment: permanent injunction, monetary relief reserved
3. 2022-04-06 Order and final judgment: disgorgement US$4,801,184 and interest US$397,075

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
• Judgment as to Phillip W. Conley (30 July 2021)
• Order and final judgment (6 April 2022)

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.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.