Financial Advisor with a Penchant for Witchcraft Sentenced to 20 Years for Ponzi Scheme
Former financial adviser and radio talk show host Dawn Bennett was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday for defrauding 46 investors out of millions in a $20 million Ponzi scheme.
Former financial adviser and radio talk show host Dawn Bennett was sentenced to 20 years in prison on Wednesday for defrauding 46 investors out of millions in a $20 million Ponzi scheme. Prosecutors in the case highlighted her penchant for luxury goods and mystics, claiming that she used $800,000 of investor funds to pay Hindu priests to ward off federal investigators.
Bennett was found guilty in October 2018 of all 17 charges that included securities fraud, wire fraud, bank fraud, and conspiracy.
Bennet, a former Barron’s top ranked financial advisor, fraudulently raised more than $20 million from elderly and financially unsophisticated investors by selling notes issued by her luxury sports apparel firm, DJB Holdings LLC.
She was accused of misrepresenting DJB Holdings’ profitability and exaggerating the safety of the notes and success of her firm, touting it as a profitable business able to pay annual returns as high as 15 percent.
DJB Holdings received a $750,000 line of credit in May 2015 after telling the bank that her portfolio had a net worth of more than $4 million. Federal prosecutors claimed, however, that the true value was only $35.
In addition to paying earlier investors in the Ponzi-like scheme, she spent investor proceeds on jewelry, high-end clothing, and a $500,000 annual lease for a luxury suite at AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
The FBI began investigating Bennett in December 2015 after the SEC accused her of inflating the amount of assets she managed and exaggerating the returns on her customers’ investments. She was barred by the SEC in 2016 and ordered to pay more than $4 million in fines.
The jury, however, did not hear testimony about Bennett’s hoodoo practices which were widely reported prior to the trial. FBI agents found evidence at her primary residence that she was attempting to silence SEC attorneys by conducting a hoodoo spell called, “Beef Tongue Shut Up Hoodoo Spell.”
They uncovered biographical information for three SEC attorneys, as well as two freezers containing dozens of sealed Mason jars with beef tongues and identifying information for the same SEC attorneys.
The judge also ordered Bennett pay $14.5 million in restitution and forfeit of $14.3 million.
