SEC v. William Neil "Doc" Gallagher, Gallagher Financial Group, Inc., and W. Neil Gallagher, Ph.D. Agency, Inc. (ponzi schemes, 2019)

Alleged — pending

These are allegations. SEC has filed an action; nothing in it has been proven, and the respondents have not been found liable. Everything described on this page is what the regulator alleges, not what a court has found. See our editorial policy.

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In March 2019 the SEC charged Texas radio host William "Doc" Gallagher and two of his companies in an emergency action over a $19.6 million Ponzi scheme that took money from about 60 elderly investors from 2014 to 2019. A court froze assets and appointed a receiver.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

—

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 case on March 12, 2019 (LR-24420) in the Northern District of Texas. Gallagher allegedly falsely claimed to be a licensed adviser, promised guaranteed 5 to 8% returns, bought almost no assets and used the money for personal and company spending and Ponzi payments, hiding it with fake statements. The SEC seeks injunctions, disgorgement and penalties; he was also indicted by the Dallas County District Attorney.

The record joined the first company to Gallagher's name and listed a bar that had not been imposed; the three defendants are now separate and the bar entry is cleared.

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes because the document describes it as a scheme paying earlier investors with later investors' 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. 2019-03-12 Litigation release published

Primary documents

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• 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. If this matter has since resolved, been withdrawn or been dismissed, we want to know: submit a correction.