[6] In December 2018, The Securities and Exchange Commission charged 13 individuals and 10 companies including television finance "guru" Jordan Elliot Goodman [Wikidata] with fraud in connection with the Ponzi scheme, other figures included Alan H. New and David S. Knuth, co-owners of Synergy Investment Services.
[10] On April 11, 2019 U.S. federal prosecutors charged the owner and two former executives of Woodbridge Group of Companies LLC with orchestrating a $1.3-billion Ponzi scheme involving 10,000 victims.
Robert [H] Shapiro, the owner of the luxury-property company, and former directors of investments Dayne Roseman and Ivan Acevedo were charged in the Southern District of Florida with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and substantive mail fraud counts, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement.
Woodbridge, which reached a deal with the government last year to appoint a new board and pay for legal representation for thousands of alleged victims, emerged from bankruptcy in February.
[11] On August 7, 2019 Robert H. Shapiro, the former CEO of the Woodbridge Group of Companies, pled guilty and admitted in Miami federal court that he "misappropriated" between $25 million and $95 million of the investors' money to allow him and his family to pay for an estate in the Los Angeles area, chartered planes, global travel, jewellery, diamonds and vintage wines.