Marc Henry Menard; Laesha Jean-Louis

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 26019 / June 11, 2024

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Marc Henry Menard, No. 24-cv-4149 (E.D.N.Y. filed June 11, 2024)

SEC Charges Individual in Fraudulent Investment Scheme Targeting the Haitian-American Community

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it filed charges against Marc Henry Menard in the Eastern District of New York for allegedly defrauding more than fifty individuals, many from the Haitian-American community, of at least $1.65 million.

According to the SEC’s complaint, from approximately July 2021 through September 2023, Menard solicited investments by misrepresenting his past investment success, how he would use investor funds, and the returns investors would receive. The complaint alleges that Menard told a number of investors that their funds would be used to trade in stocks and options, and that Menard purportedly guaranteed interest payments of 10 to 20 percent per month.  As alleged in the complaint, Menard was not the successful investor he claimed to be, losing nearly $700,000 trading securities, primarily using investors’ funds.  As further alleged in the complaint, Menard misappropriated a significant amount of investor money for his personal use by spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on luxury vehicles, international travel, gifts, rent, and other personal expenses, as well as to make payments to prior investors in a Ponzi-like manner. In addition, as alleged in the complaint, Menard diverted significant amounts of investor money to Laesha Jean-Louis, with whom he had a romantic relationship. Finally, the complaint alleges that when Menard could no longer make promised interest payments to investors or repay the principal on their investments, Menard resorted to additional falsehoods to conceal his scheme.

The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charges Menard with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and Sections 206(1), 206(2), and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder, and seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and a bar from acting as an officer or director of any public company. The complaint also names Jean-Louis as a relief defendant and seeks disgorgement plus prejudgment interest.

The New York Regional Office is committed to helping educate communities targeted by fraud through its FraudWise project. The goal of FraudWise is to teach affected communities how to identify investment scams and give them the tools they need to prevent frauds. For more information: SEC.gov | FraudWise Project Works to Protect Targeted Communities

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Olivia Zach and Thomas Feretic of the New York Regional Office and supervised by Celeste Chase and Tejal Shah. The litigation will be led by Travis Hill and supervised by Daniel Loss.

• SEC Complaint