The SEC announced today that it has frozen the assets of China Voice Holding Corp., alleging that its co-founder David Ronald Allen and his associates Alex Dowlatshahi and Christopher Mills were running the business as a Ponzi scheme worth $8.6 million.
According to the SEC, Allen and his associates run the scheme by inviting investors into so-called ‘limited partnerships’, and promising them a 25% return on their investment. Instead that money has been used to pay off earlier investors and to Allen, Dawlatshahi , and Mills themselves. Additionally, China Voice’s CEO William F. Burbank IV is charged with publishing fraudulent financial statements and misleading investors, though it is not clear if he was aware of the Ponzi scheme.
