A Cache County, Utah, man who solicited investors for "top secret" Iraqi currency and oil contract deals has been charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC announced Friday.
John Scott Clark previously pled guilty to criminal fraud charges for the same scheme and has been sentenced to three years in prison and an obligation to pay $1.7 million in restitution.
Clark has a criminal history. He pled guilty in 2009 to criminal bank fraud, money laundering and illegal gambling charges. In 2011 he was charged by the SEC with operating a $47 million Ponzi scheme.
The victims in his Iraqi fraud scheme were also victims of the Ponzi scheme, the SEC says.
In the latest scheme, Clark claimed to have access to a top secret U.S. military and government program that enabled him to invest in Iraqi dinar and oil contracts with foreign governments and large oil companies, the SEC says.
Clark provided written guarantees that investors would receive annual returns in excess of 3,000 percent. Clark told investors that within 90 days, a $1,000 investment would yield $125,000 and a $20,000 investment would guarantee a $3 million payout, the SEC complaint says.