America’s youngest African American CEO accused of taking part in Ponzi scheme
on October 24th, 2011 at 7:11 am“A class action lawsuit alleges that Ephren W. Taylor II, famous for becoming “America’s youngest African American CEO of a public company,” was in reality the ringleader of a series of cynical Ponzi schemes that stole tens of millions of dollars from hard-working churchgoers. Taylor was prominently featured in media outlets including NPR, Fox, ABC, CNN, Forbes and others, and was apparently tapped to create and manage a $1 million endowment fund for rapper Snoop Dogg’s Youth Football League.
The lawsuit, filed this month in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, accuses Taylor and other individuals and financial institutions who allegedly helped him perpetrate his Ponzi schemes with wire fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, money laundering, racketeering, violations of the RICO Act and a number of other serious violations.
“Today is the first step in achieving justice for hundreds of victims whose tens of millions were supposed to go toward ‘socially conscious’ investments, but instead enriched Ephren Taylor and his cohorts,” said Cathy J. Lerman, Founder of Cathy Jackson Lerman, PA, which filed the class action suit along with co-counsel Jim Gitkin, principal of Salpeter Gitkin, LLP in Fort Lauderdale, and David Schiller, principal of the Schiller & Schiller law firm in Raleigh, North Carolina who serves as local counsel. “This self-described minister who targeted and bilked hard-working, devout minorities for his own financial gain must be brought to justice.” (Read more…)
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This is really messed up. Taylor has been featured on this site at least several time for his financial achievements at such a young age. To read that much of his wealth was acquired through a series of Ponzi schemes is both saddening and sparks anger for me. As a one time victim of such schemes, I have no tolerance for such mess.
If anything, this proves AGAIN that not all greed is on Wall Street. A lot of it is in our own backyard.
