The Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a civil action today that Matthew Motil, host of the “The Cash Flow King” podcast, raised $11 million from 60 investors in a Ponzi scheme and spent the money on his wife, NBA tickets and a waterfront mansion.
From 2017 to 2021, Motil invited his podcast listeners “to be a real estate investing badass” by purchasing what he said were “short-term, low-risk, high-return” notes. He promised to use their investment funds to purchase and renovate properties thoughout Ohio and pay them back with profits from reselling, refinancing or renting the properties, the SEC said in its complaint. “Nearly everything about his scheme was a lie."
While the podcaster told investors that the investments he offered were backed by “first liens” on properties, in fact many were backed by a single residence, which was never valued at more than $130,000, the agency said.
“We allege that Motil used podcasts and social media platforms to bolster his reputation as an investing expert while fraudulently targeting investors’ hard-earned retirement assets, including, in at least one instance, almost the full balance of an investor’s self-directed IRA,” Mark Cave, associate director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement, said in a statement.
“We are committed to holding those who prey on others accountable for their unlawful conduct,” Cave added.
Motil could not be reached for comment.
The fraud allowed Motil to spend $1.6 million on his waterfront mansion, courtside season tickets to NBA games and $400,000 in payments on the credit cards of his wife, Amy Motil, who as COO of Motil’s company, is named as a relief defendant in the SEC’s case, the SEC said.
Motil also used $3.7 million of investor money to make Ponzi payments to other investors and diverted over $900,000 in investors’ funds to pay for unrelated business expenses, the SEC alleged.
The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, charges Motil with antifraud violations of securities laws and seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, civil money penalties and an officer and director bar.
The agency said that more than 60 investors located across the U.S.—including a cancer researcher and an active-duty U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel—were scammed into investing their retirement funds and life savings with Motil, based on his persuasive advertising of his financial acumen and track record of success.
After Motil’s Ponzi scheme collapsed, he filed for personal bankruptcy in March 2022, “seeking to discharge the millions of dollars he personally owed to the investors he had victimized. In his bankruptcy petition, Motil failed to divulge that his debts were from his Ponzi scheme,” the SEC said.
“Motil actively participated in his bankruptcy case, but has ignored numerous SEC administrative subpoenas for testimony and documents served upon him personally,” the agency noted.