Like most Ponzi schemes, the one Carl Ruderman has been accused of running hinged on an offer too good to be true. And yet, Ruderman managed to ensnare thousands of investors in 42 states over four years, and took them for more $300 million with promises of quick double-digit returns on small investments, according to authorities.
It’s all come crashing down, and now more than a half-dozen alleged conspirators are facing jail time or are in jail or have been forced to cough up restitution. And the fraud is still unraveling.
Ruderman, who previously owned several pornographic titles, including Playgirl, and was known as the porn industry’s “invisible man” for eschewing the public eye, founded and ran a lending company in Hallandale Beach, Florida, called 1 Global Capital LLC. The company extended high-interest loans to small and medium-sized businesses that couldn’t get funding through traditional banks and investment houses.
But to fund his enterprise, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Ruderman enrolled a nationwide army of brokers, investment advisors, and sales agents – many of them barred from the industry or simply unregistered – who earned millions in commissions to sell shares or “contracts” in 1 Global.
According to marketing materials given to prospective investors, 1 Global used the money to extend its short-term business loans, called Merchant Cash Advances, and the investors would reap a…
