On May 22, 2018, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan unsealed an indictment charging Larry A. Holley of Grand Blanc, Michigan and Patricia Enright, a.k.a. Patricia Gray, 57, of Flint, Michigan with conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering. Holley and Gray are currently defendants in a parallel enforcement action brought by the SEC.

According to the indictment, Enright and Holley, who is a pastor at Abundant Life Ministries in Flint, operated Treasure Enterprise, LLC, which fraudulently purported to provide financial planning and asset management services to investors.  Holley and Enright solicited many of the victim investors at financial seminars held at churches throughout Michigan and other states.

The indictment alleges that in order to lure the potential investors, many of whom took their money out of legitimate investments-such as individual retirement 401(k) accounts-Holley and Enright promised high, guaranteed returns, and the safe return of an investor's entire principal at the end of the investment period.  The money, however, was not invested and did not earn the profits to pay the guaranteed interest payments.  Instead, Holley and Enright, and others directed by them, simply deposited the victim investor funds into Treasure's bank accounts and then used the money for their personal benefit, for the benefit of Abundant Life Ministries, to make interest and principal payments to earlier investors, and to pay other Treasure employees.

The indictment's allegations are based on substantially the same conduct alleged in the SEC's emergency action filed on March 28, 2017 against Holley, Gray and Treasure in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. The SEC's complaint alleged violations of Sections 5(a), 5(c) and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5.

On the same day that the SEC filed its action, the SEC obtained a temporary restraining order that froze the assets of Holley, Gray and Treasure, appointed a receiver and imposed other emergency relief. Holley, Gray and Treasure later consented to the entry of a permanent injunction. The SEC's litigation continues.