Former CEO Pleads Guilty in $190 Million Ponzi Scheme

Johanna Michely Garcia, the former CEO of MJ Capital Funding, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in a $190 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors. From October 2020 to August 2021, Garcia and her accomplices falsely solicited funds from investors under the pretense of providing merchant cash advances to small businesses, while using new investor funds to pay returns to earlier investors. The FBI shut down MJ Capital Funding in the fall of 2021, after which Garcia attempted to operate another Ponzi scheme. She faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, with her sentencing scheduled for September 20, 2024. Co-conspirator Pavel Ramon Ruiz Hernandez has already been sentenced to over nine years for his role in the scheme. The case highlights the significant financial losses, with investors losing nearly $90 million out of the $200 million raised.