SEC Charges Newport Beach Company and its Principals with Operating a $13.5 Million Ponzi-Like Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it has charged BNZ, a Newport Beach, California-based company, and its co-founders and co-managers Brett Barber and Louis Zimmerle, for fraudulently raising $13.5 million from more than 100 retail investors. According to the SEC's complaint, filed on Oct. 28, 2021, in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, since June 2019, BNZ, Barber, and Zimmerle have raised $13.5 million from retail investors by telling them BNZ was in the business of making investments in real estate and alternative investments and promising to pay investors significant returns, generally 10% per year.