The owner of a Miami-based payday loan company bilked hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars and repaid others with money he acquired from a Ponzi scheme, according to federal regulators.
MIAMI — The owner of a Miami-based payday loan company bilked hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars and repaid others with money he acquired from a Ponzi scheme, according to federal regulators. About 500 investors, many from South Florida’s Venezuelan American community, were taken in by Efrain Betancourt Jr.’s sales pitch of high-interest returns on their investments in his short-term loan operation Sky Group USA, the Miami Herald reported. The Securities and Exchange Commission in Miami filed a lawsuit against Betancourt,33, and his company in September, the report noted. The agency accuses Betancourt of committing securities violations in a scheme that authorities describe as “affinity fraud.
