SEC Charges Creative Legal Fundings CEO Maria Dickerson with Operating Multimillion Dollar Ponzi Scheme that Targeted Filipino-American Community

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Maria Dulce Pino Dickerson and her companies Creative Legal Fundings in CA 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 across the United States.

According to the SEC's complaint, from approximately March 2021 through May 2023, Sacramento, California resident Dickerson convinced investors to acquire interests in Creative Legal Fundings by falsely claiming that she would use their investments to make loans to personal injury attorneys to fund their lawsuits. In exchange, Dickerson allegedly claimed, Creative Legal Fundings would receive a portion of any eventual 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 did not make any loans, conduct any other business, or generate any returns. Instead, Dickerson allegedly spent at least $2.5 million in investor funds on personal real estate, gambling, travel and designer goods purchases. The complaint also alleges that Dickerson made Ponzi-like payments to earlier 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 in around May 2023, she shuttered that company, opened The Ubiquity Group, and tried to raise additional funds using similar misrepresentations.

"As alleged, Creative Legal Fundings' operations were neither creative, nor legal. This was nothing more than fraud perpetrated against retail 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 U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, charges Dickerson, Creative Legal Fundings, and The Ubiquity Group with violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, including conduct-based injunctions, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. The SEC also seeks an officer-and-director bar against Dickerson.

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

In a parallel action, 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 will be led by Robin Andrews and Mr. Simpson LaGoy.