Ricardi Celicourt and Brisly Guillaume

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 26050 / July 19, 2024

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Ricardi Celicourt and Brisly Guillaume, No. 24-civ-61275 (S.D. Fla. filed July 18, 2024)

SEC Charges Two Sales Agents for Role in $112 Million Ponzi Scheme that Targeted Haitian-American Community

Yesterday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Broward County, Florida residents Ricardi Celicourt and Brisly Guillaume with violations of the securities registration and broker-dealer registration provisions of the federal securities laws in connection with their participation in an unregistered securities offering by Royal Bengal Logistics Inc., which fraudulently raised approximately $112 million from 1,500 investors and targeted Haitian-Americans.

The SEC's complaint alleges that, from 2021 through 2023, defendants raised at least $109 million through Royal Bengal's unregistered offering and received combined compensation of $1.3 million in purported bonuses tied to their efforts. As alleged, during this time period, the defendants were not registered with the Commission as brokers or dealers and Royal Bengal's securities were not registered with the Commission, and there was no valid exemption from registration.

The SEC's complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, charges Celicourt and Guillaume with violating the registration provisions of Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933 as well as violating the broker-dealer registration provisions of Section 15(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC's complaint seeks permanent injunctions, civil money penalties, and disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest against both defendants.

The SEC appreciates the assistance Florida's Office of Financial Regulation, the U. S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida, the FBI's Miami Field Office, and the U.S. Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, Southern Region.

This is the second enforcement action relating to Royal Bengal. In June 2023, the SEC filed an emergency action against Royal Bengal and its then-president, Sanjay Singh, and obtained, among other relief, emergency orders freezing Royal Bengal's and Singh's assets and appointing a receiver over Royal Bengal. See SEC v. Royal Bengal Logistics, Inc. and Sanjay Singh, No. 23-civ-61179 (S.D. Fla. filed June 20, 2023)

The SEC's investigation was part of the Miami Regional Office's Fraud Against Minority Groups Initiative and was conducted by Linda S. Schmidt and supervised by Sean M. O'Neill and Glenn Gordon, and with the assistance of Mark Dee, Fernando Torres, and Ivette Goizueta-Mendes. The SEC's litigation will be led by Russell O'Brien, and supervised by Teresa J. Verges.