The Securities and Exchange Commission has shut down a $102 million Ponzi scheme in which the perpetrators allegedly skimmed off $20 million for themselves, the SEC announced Tuesday.

The fraud involves five individuals and three companies they controlled. The SEC has obtained a temporary asset freeze against the individuals and the companies that allegedly bilked more than 600 investors throughout the United States.

The individuals named in the SEC complaint are Perry Santillo and Christopher Parris of Rochester, N.Y.; Paul LaRocco of Ocala, Fla.; John Piccarreto of San Antonio; and Thomas Brenner, of Orville, Ohio, The companies are First Nationle Solution LLC, United RL Capital Services and Percipience Global Corp.

“We allege that the defendants engaged in a massive fraud and swindled investors to line their pockets with ill-gotten gains,” said Marc P. Berger, director of the SEC’s New York Office. “Investors should be on high alert whenever they are promised guaranteed returns.”

According to the SEC, investors were guaranteed dividends or double-digit returns, but the defendants spent at least $20 million to enrich themselves, paid $38.5 million in Ponzi-like payments to early investors, and transferred much of the remainder in transactions that appear unrelated to the issuers’ purported businesses.

The SEC’s complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.