SEC Charges Financial Adviser with Aiding and Abetting Dawn Bennett’s Offering Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Bradley Mascho, a Maryland-based financial adviser and the onetime chief financial officer of Dawn Bennett’s DJB Holdings LLC, with aiding and abetting an offering fraud involving the sale of more than $20 million in convertible and promissory notes.
Bennett, a former high-profile investment advisor and radio talk show host, made headlines over the summer when federal investigators revealed her lavish lifestyle and penchant for using witchcraft to silence those involved in the investigation.
In August, the SEC charged Bennett and DJB Holdings with fraud in connection with the sale of notes backed by the company, alleging that she repeatedly misled investors regarding the financial condition of her company and her plan to divert millions of dollars in investor funds to personal use.
The complaint also alleged that Bennett perpetuated her fraud by, among other things, lying to regulators and repaying investors with loan proceeds obtained through loan applications that substantially overstated her net worth.
The SEC amended its complaint to add Mascho as a defendant, alleging that he aided and abetted Bennett’s fraud by various means, including preparing false financial statements and related offering materials, lying to regulators and to his employer regarding his knowledge of and role in the sale of notes, facilitating Bennett’s efforts to target his firm’s brokerage customers, and attempting to disguise certain note sales by creating new, “backdated” notes and false affidavits misrepresenting the details of the note offering.
In August, the FBI investigator in charge of searching Bennett’s home revealed that she had conducted paranormal “hoodoo spells” against Securities and Exchange Commission attorneys and stored dozens of mason jars with beef tongues in her freezer that were accompanied with the attorneys’ identifying information.
The SEC seeks a permanent injunction, disgorgement plus interest, and civil penalties against Mascho. In a parallel case, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland unsealed criminal charges against Mascho.
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