The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged New Jersey founder Ernest Ossei Boateng and two companies he controls with running an alleged Ponzi scheme that raised about $16 million from more than 200 investors, many of whom had never invested before. The SEC said on September 10, 2026, that Boateng promised guaranteed fixed returns and a low-risk strategy, then spent millions on his home and paid earlier investors with newer investors’ money. The investors named in the complaint include retirees, taxi drivers, home health care workers and an ailing widow.
More than 200 investors and about $16 million
According to the SEC’s September 10 announcement, Boateng acted through Intercontinental Wealth Network LLC and I Wealth Network LP, both based in New Jersey. The agency alleges that from at least January 2020 until at least March 2026, he solicited, recommended and sold interests in an investment fund, raising approximately $16 million from more than 200 inexperienced investors.
The SEC said the offering primarily targeted Christians of Ghanaian heritage in New York and New Jersey. Thomas P. Smith Jr., associate director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office, said the investors included “retirees, taxi drivers, home health care providers, students, an ailing widow with young children, and at least two churches and one prayer group.”
Smith said the sales pitch assured victims that their investments were safe and without risk, and that many were told their money was protected by so-called “financial, investment insurance.” He called that claim “as big of a red flag as we see in these types of scams.” The charges are allegations; Boateng and the companies have not been found liable, and the case will be decided in court.
The order of the first hour: Investors in a fund like the one described here often learn something is wrong when a promised payment stops, and the calls made in that first hour shape what can still be traced. The first-hour recovery plan for that moment is laid out in The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit.
Where the SEC says the money went
The SEC alleges that instead of investing the money as promised, Boateng misappropriated more than $5.8 million for personal expenses, including the purchase, renovation and furnishing of his home. He also allegedly used about $6.6 million to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors. Together, those two uses account for roughly three-quarters of the $16 million raised.
To the limited extent money was invested, the complaint says it did not go into low-risk investments with fixed returns. Instead, Boateng allegedly used investor money for high-risk, speculative day trading, which produced more than $750,000 in trading losses.
The SEC’s investor education site describes a Ponzi scheme as an investment fraud that pays existing investors with funds collected from new investors. Because there are few legitimate earnings, such schemes need a steady flow of new money and tend to collapse when recruiting slows or many investors try to cash out at once.
The charges and what the SEC is asking for
The complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. It charges Boateng, Intercontinental Wealth Network and I Wealth Network with violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Boateng and Intercontinental are also charged under the antifraud provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, which governs people and firms paid to give investment advice.
The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against all defendants, along with conduct-based injunctions against Boateng and Intercontinental. Disgorgement requires a defendant to give up money obtained through the violations. In some SEC cases, collected money is later returned to harmed investors through a court-approved distribution, but no such fund has been announced here, and the case is at an early stage.
The SEC maintains a public page on distributions to harmed investors, where it lists cases in which money is being returned. Investors in the Boateng offerings who want to follow the case can watch that page and the court docket rather than relying on anyone who calls or messages offering to speed up a recovery for a fee.
Warning signs retirees can check
The pitch described by the SEC matches several red flags that regulators list for Ponzi schemes. Investor.gov warns against high returns with little or no risk and says to be highly suspicious of any “guaranteed” investment. It also flags overly consistent returns, unregistered investments, unlicensed sellers, secretive or complex strategies, errors in account statements, and difficulty receiving payments or cashing out.
Promises of insurance deserve particular scrutiny. Deposit insurance from the FDIC covers bank deposits, and SIPC coverage protects customers when a brokerage firm fails; neither guarantees an investment fund’s returns or covers losses from a bad investment. A pitch that describes a private fund as insured should be checked with the named insurer and with a regulator before any money moves.
Anyone recommending investments for a fee generally must be registered with the SEC or a state. The SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure site lets investors search for an adviser or firm and review registration and disciplinary history at no cost. Registration is not an endorsement, but an adviser who cannot be found there, or a fund with no audited statements and no independent custodian, is a reason to stop.
Affinity fraud, which relies on trust within a religious, ethnic or community group, is especially hard to spot because the recommendation often comes from a friend, relative or fellow congregant who believes in the investment. Older investors who have been told a fund is safe because others in their community are in it can still ask for the offering documents and verify the seller independently.
When a trusted pitch stops paying
The investors described in the SEC complaint heard about the fund through their own communities and were told it was insured. When payments stop in a case like this, what matters is the paper trail: who made the pitch, what was promised in writing, and where each transfer went.
The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit includes a fraud evidence and report log for organizing those statements and transfers, plus the free credit-freeze steps for protecting accounts after personal details were shared with a seller.
Begin with the evidence log in The Senior Fraud Defense & First-Hour Recovery Kit.
This article was prepared with AI assistance and reviewed against the linked official sources.
