SEC v. Mark J. Varacchi and Sentinel Growth Fund Management (ponzi schemes, 2017)

Settled

✓ 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.

Report an error in this record (sec-varacchi-et-al-ponzi-schemes-2017) by email

In February 2017 the SEC charged Connecticut adviser Mark J. Varacchi and Sentinel Growth Fund Management with stealing at least $3.95 million from investors in an alleged Ponzi scheme. Varacchi consented to an injunction in May 2017 and, in February 2023, to a final judgment for $19,691,467 in disgorgement and $747,877 in interest, deemed satisfied by his criminal restitution order. He had pleaded guilty in a parallel criminal case.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$19.7m

Prejudgment interest

$748k

Total relief

$20.4m

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 February 2, 2017 in the District of Connecticut, alleges the firm told investors their deposits would be placed with emerging hedge fund managers but instead commingled assets, manipulated account activity and returns, and took money, including over $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought by Varacchi's former employer.

Outcome. On May 1, 2017 the court entered a consent judgment enjoining Varacchi and Sentinel, with money relief left for later, and appointed a receiver; Varacchi had pleaded guilty to securities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy on February 1, 2017, according to the SEC's release. A final judgment as to Varacchi, filed in the docket on February 7, 2023 and signed on February 3, 2023, records his consent and holds him liable for $19,691,467 in disgorgement and $747,877 in prejudgment interest. Both are deemed satisfied by the restitution order in his criminal judgment of September 12, 2022. No civil penalty appears in that judgment.

What the source does not show: Varacchi's prison term, whether Sentinel and the relief-defendant funds received a final monetary judgment of their own (we did not find one), or how much was actually paid. The outcome recorded here covers Varacchi only.

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. 2017-02-02 Litigation release published
2. 2017-05-01 Consent judgment enjoins Varacchi and Sentinel; receiver appointed
3. 2023-02-03 Final judgment as to Varacchi: disgorgement and interest, deemed satisfied by criminal restitution

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 May 2017 judgment
• Final judgment as to Mark J. Varacchi (Feb. 2023)

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 2 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.