How the MJ Capital Funding Alleged Ponzi Scheme Played Out in Real Time

After the SEC shut down Pompano Beach-based MJ Capital Funding for running what is believed to be a $100M ponzi scheme, more than 2,000 investors are now struggling to figure out what happens next. But in hindsight, could they have known the risks?

Apparently, questions about MJ Capital had been circulating for months. A thread on Reddit with nearly 700 comments is now one of the best preserved insights into the company’s investor community mindset during 2021. There, posters traded anonymous barbs and insults in a spirited debate that challenged the company’s legitimacy. Those that argued it was a ponzi scheme were shouted down with reassurances from people claiming to be paid regularly.

“Scared money makes no money” is a mantra that comes up repeatedly.

The comments are eye-opening in retrospect as posters claim to have invested their life savings or know people that did on the hope that they would make 10% interest on their investment EVERY MONTH. One poster claims that his friend quit his job to promote MJ Capital full time and that he shaved his head, bought a suit, rented an office in Miami “and became some investment f***ing guru even though he could barely explain what the company would do with my money if I gave it to him.”

At least one person said that a friend invested as little as $1,000 into the company, an astonishingly small sum for an operation that is alleged to have raised as much as $129M in little over a year’s time.

Even now with the company’s assets frozen and a receivership in place, some users are wondering if that means their monthly checks will be delayed. Others are confused as to what the SEC lawsuit and temporary restraining order even mean.

“I am out a significant amount of money,” one user wrote. “Literally, my life’s savings. I am scared shitless as I am unaware of what will happen and if I will get my money back. Does anyone know what the odds are for investors who have not received any of their investment back?”

Despite all this, at least one poster thought the SEC’s reference to an undercover FBI operation could work in MJ Capital’s favor since an FBI agent, who posed as an investor, not only made an investment but also got paid.

“Anyone can go to the SEC or FBI to file a complaint about a company to bring them down,” they said. “And of course they are going to look into it. But facts hold up in court. The case file it self says that the [Undercover Agent] made an investment and got paid, proving that the business isn’t a scam and it works. Nothing illegal about what the company does.”

Meanwhile, on instagram, those claiming to be victims have been busy tagging accounts of the people who promoted the investment to hold them accountable. Most of those tagged accounts have already been made private and are not publicly accessible.

To deBanked’s knowledge, no criminal charges have been filed against anyone in connection with this case and it remains a civil matter with charges not proven.