Investors poured $3.8 million into an Aurora business relying on the founders’ complex new algorithm that guaranteed 700 percent returns.
Instead, they were bamboozled by an old-fashioned Ponzi/pyramid scheme, according to federal court records.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Blackburn ordered an injunction against the Aurora business called “The Achieve Community” preventing it from accessing company bank accounts. The company has an office in Riverview, Mich.
Agents from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission earlier filed a civil lawsuit against the company and its founders, Kristine L. Johnson, 60, of Aurora, and Troy A. Barns, 52, of Riverview.
Since April 2014, the defendants raised millions of dollars through videos and promotional materials posted on the Internet. Investors bought “positions” in TAC believing they would earn investment returns of 700 percent, according to federal court records. Each $50 position brought a $400 return, they advertised.
Johnson and Barnes claimed it realized its terrific gains through the “triple algorithm” they developed. They guaranteed their “long-term, stable program” would generate limitless returns over a lifetime.
“In reality, TAC is a pure Ponzi and pyramid scheme,” the lawsuit says. “Early investors are paid their purported investment returns from the funds of newer investors. Indeed, TAC has no legitimate business operations; the only available funds to pay the promised investment returns come from new investors lured into the scheme.”
Johnson and Barnes “misappropriated at least $200,000 in investor funds to pay off personal credit card bills and to buy a new car, the lawsuit says.
“Defendants have siphoned investor funds to an account held by Relief Defendant Achieve International, and have then misappropriated funds out of that account,” federal documents say.
An attorney for Johnson did not contest the requested injunction. Neither Barnes nor Johnson appeared before the judge at the Tuesday hearing.
Kirk Mitchell: 303-954-1206, or
