Final judgments totaling $65 million have been entered in a case against two business entities tied to John J. Woods, the former Chattanooga Lookouts investor alleged by regulators to have run a massive Ponzi scheme.
The entities are to give up that amount by forfeiting profits or paying penalties, according to an order by U.S. District Court Judge Steven D. Grimberg of Atlanta.
The amounts will be satisfied by how much is collected from the ongoing sale of the entities’ assets, court papers said. Those assets are to be distributed to claimants who invested with Woods.
Still pending is the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s August 2021 complaint against Woods.
The judgments were entered in the case against the two entities that regulators claim Woods used to help facilitate the alleged Ponzi scheme — Southport Capital and Horizon Private Equity III.
Both Southport and Horizon consented to the judgments’ entry without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, and they waived their rights to an appeal.
Woods, 57, who grew up in East Ridge before moving to Marietta, Georgia, has denied wrongdoing in court papers.
In the judgments, Horizon is to give up more than $49.4 million in net profits plus $11.4 million in interest. Southport Capital was hit with a $5 million civil penalty.
In the SEC’s 2021 complaint, regulators accused Woods of running the scheme for over a decade that defrauded more than 400 investors and continued to raise more money to try to pay…
