Serial Fraudster “Dr. Cash” Sentenced To Three Years In Prison For Running Ponzi Scheme

Jay Clayton, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that TERRENCE CHALK, a/k/a “Dr. Cash,” was sentenced to three years for committing investment adviser fraud.  CHALK previously pled guilty on May 7, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr., who imposed today’s sentence.

“Defrauding retirees, using the common bond of faith to build trust, is a horrible crime, one that disturbs all New Yorkers,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton.  “This Office and our law enforcement partners are committed to bringing to justice fraudsters who exploit shared ethnic or religious backgrounds to build false trust.  If you suspect ‘affinity fraud’ in or around your place of worship, please contact law enforcement.”

According to the allegations contained in the Superseding Information and statements made in public filings and in public court proceedings: 

In 2017, CHALK began marketing an investment fund using the alias “Terrence Cash” or “Doctor Cash.”  He avoided using his real name because an Internet search for “Terrence Chalk” would have revealed that in 2006, he had been convicted in federal court of multiple fraud offenses.  CHALK’s website advertised him as “the nation’s No. 1 business, money, and wealth coach,” and offered money management and “coaching” sessions in which CHALK promised to share the “hidden secrets of the wealthy” that would change his clients’ “mindset, perspective, and relationship with money.”  After engaging his victims in these courses, he would then press them to invest in what he called the “Chairman’s Fund,” which he claimed was invested in a number of pooled investments that would be consistent, quarterly cash payments and high returns.

CHALK targeted elderly investors and sometimes marketed his services through wealth seminars that he held primarily at Black churches.  He used this setting to his advantage, holding himself out as a man of faith who was seeking to help other Christians like himself.

At first, CHALK’s victims received their promised quarterly payments and assumed all was as advertised at the Chairman’s Fund. Some of the victims even recruited friends and family members into the fund.  But by the end of 2019, many of the victims had stopped receiving payments.  When they complained to CHALK, he stonewalled them and even told them—falsely—that they had agreed not to withdraw their funds for 10 years.  In total, CHALK convinced approximately 26 individuals to invest approximately $4.8 million in his fund.  None of that money appears to have been used to invest in funds, as CHALK had represented to his investors.  Most of the money was paid to other corporate entities controlled by CHALK, to pay off earlier investors, or to cover CHALK’s lavish lifestyle.  For example, CHALK spent approximately $1.7 million to pay personal credit card bills, spent $17,000 on NBA season tickets, and spent $74,000 on a BMW.  After deducting the Ponzi payments that some investors received, the total group of investors still lost a combined $3,210,469 when CHALK’s scheme collapsed.

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In addition to the prison term, CHALK, 62, of Orlando, Florida, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in an amount to be determined at a later date.

Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Mr. Clayton also thanked the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which previously filed a parallel civil action.

The case is being overseen by the Office’s Securities and Commodities Fraud Task Force. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam S. Hobson is in charge of the prosecution.