SEC accuses Creative Legal Fundings CEO Maria Dickerson of running multimillion-dollar pyramid scheme targeting Filipino-American community

Washington, DC–(Newsfile Corp. – September 3, 2024) – The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Maria Dulce Pino Dickerson and her companies, Creative Legal Fundings in California and The Ubiquity Group LLC, with raising approximately $7 million from more than 130 investors through a fraudulent securities offering targeting members of the Filipino American community in the United States.

According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately March 2021 through May 2023, Dickerson, a Sacramento, California resident, persuaded investors to acquire interests in Creative Legal Fundings by falsely representing that she would use their investments to make loans to personal injury attorneys to finance their lawsuits. In return, Dickerson alleged, Creative Legal Fundings would receive a share of any settlements or recoveries. According to the complaint, Dickerson promised investors guaranteed high returns of 10 to 17.5 percent per month. In reality, the complaint alleges, Creative Legal Fundings made no loans, conducted no other business, or generated any returns. Instead, Dickerson allegedly spent at least $2.5 million of investors’ money on purchases of personal real estate, gambling, travel, and designer goods. The complaint also alleges that Dickerson made Ponzi-style payments to prior investors using funds from new investors in an attempt to keep the scheme going. The complaint further alleges that after Dickerson ran out of money to pay Creative Legal Fundings investors around May 2023, she closed that company, opened The Ubiquity Group, and attempted to raise additional funds using similar misrepresentations.

“As alleged, the activities of Creative Legal Fundings were neither creative nor legal. This was nothing more than a fraud perpetrated against private investors, many of whom were members of the Filipino-American community,” said Monique C. Winkler, director of the SEC’s San Francisco regional office.

The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, accuses Dickerson, Creative Legal Fundings and The Ubiquity Group of violating the anti-fraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, including conduct-based injunctions, disgorgement with prejudgment interest and civil penalties. The SEC is also seeking an officer-and-director restraining order against Dickerson.

The SEC’s investigation was part of the San Francisco Regional Office and Los Angeles Regional Office’s task force on affinity fraud, the Western Alliance to Protect Targeted Communities. The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy issued an Investor Alert with tips on how investors can recognize and avoid affinity fraud.

In a parallel proceeding, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California today announced criminal charges against Dickerson.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Duncan C. Simpson LaGoy and Michael Foley and supervised by David Zhou and Jason H. Lee of the San Francisco Regional Office. The litigation is being led by Robin Andrews and Mr. Simpson LaGoy.