SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — A businesswoman under the scrutiny of lawsuits and state and federal investigations concerning an alleged Ponzi scheme targeting the Filipino community now faces charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The SEC’s complaint says Maria Dulce Pino Dickerson has violated antifraud and registration provisions of federal securities laws as she raised about $7 million from more than 130 investors for her companies: Creative Legal Fundings and the Ubiquity Group LLC, both in California.
According to the press release, Dickerson would convince investors to acquire interests in Creative Legal Fundings by falsely claiming she would use their money to make loans to personal injury attorneys to fund their lawsuits. In exchange, she allegedly claimed her company would receive part of any eventual settlements or recoveries, promising guaranteed high returns of 10 to 17.5% per month.
This happened between March 2021 to May 2023, per the SEC.
WATCH: Nearly a year …