The bankrupt founder of a Pennsylvania-based ATM enterprise perpetrated a Ponzi-like scheme along with several firms he controlled, defrauding investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars, the SEC said.
The defendants—Daryl F. Heller, Paramount Management Group LLC, and Prestige Investment Group LLC—raised over $770 million from around 2,700 investors from January 2017 through June 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint filed Wednesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Heller and his companies claimed the investor funds would be used to purchase and operate ATMs that would generate revenue to pay ...