The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has charged Moises Pacheco and the two investment advisory firms he controls, Advanced Money Management Inc. (AMM) and Business Development and Consulting Company (BD&C), for operating an alleged Ponzi scheme.

According to the SEC complaint, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California on June 24, Pacheco, through AMM and BD&C, acted as the investment advisor to five purported hedge funds -- AP Premium Value Funds I through IV and Capital Partnership Group.

Pacheco, who according to the complaint is well-known throughout the Chula Vista, Calif., community where he operated the alleged Ponzi scheme, raised nearly $15 million from more than 200 investors through an “unregistered offering of securities in the form of investment contracts” during the 2005 through 2008 period. He boasted of profits of between 30% and 48% annually, all the while using new investor principle to finance those returns, the complaint alleges.

Pacheco’s funds generated profits of $367,000 but he paid “cumulative purported returns” of nearly $10 million, according to the complaint.

“Pacheco disseminated monthly statements reflecting purported profits and trading activity, but providing little detail about how those returns were generated,” Rosalind Tyson, director in the SEC’s Los Angeles office, said in a statement. Tyson went on to warn investors to beware of "opaque investment opportunities" that promise unrealistic returns.

Pacheco is not registered as an investment adviser with the SEC.