Federal authorities are accusing the owner of a Providence-based investment company in what they claim “has many hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme.”
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed the complaint against former Marine Christopher Aubin and his company Anchor State Capital, previously Anchor State Investments.
The feds claim Aubin, 30, of Walpole and previously Lincoln, used investors’ money to pay for lavish items for himself and his girlfriend, instead of paying back investors.
The complaint alleges Aubin owes investors at least $2 million in investment principal he was due to pay back with investment returns.
The government accuses Aubin of spending nearly $67,000 from Anchor State’s bank accounts to buy a BMW he then gave to his girlfriend and multiple times in 2023 and 2024 used Anchor State funds “to pay for luxury travel, including private jet transport” for himself and his girlfriend.
The complaint claims Aubin’s scheme involved telling investors their money would be used to for short-term loans on real estate and development projects, with a return of 12% to 19% interest within a matter of months.
Instead, the feds claim Aubin “made very few real loans to borrowers and instead used investors’ funds largely to make payments to earlier investors” and to pay for his own “business expenses and the personal expenses” of himself and his girlfriend.
Aubin was sued by multiple investors in Rhode Island state court in 2024.
“Aubin’s sales pitch to potential investors included his trustworthiness as a Marine Corp veteran. At least two of Defendants’ investors were Marine Corps veterans who had served with Aubin,” the newly filed federal complaint states.
The SEC investigation identified 24 people who invested a total of more than $2.5 million with Aubin over the past two years.
