Tai Lopez SEC Lawsuit: REV’s Alleged $112M Ponzi Scheme

The Tai Lopez SEC lawsuit accuses the social media marketer, along with tech entrepreneur Alex Mehr and executive Maya Rose Burkenroad, of running a $112 million Ponzi scheme through Retail Ecommerce Ventures LLC (REV), the company that bought bankrupt brands like RadioShack, Pier 1, and Dressbarn and relaunched them online. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed the civil complaint on September 23, 2025, in the Southern District of Florida. As of mid-2026, the case is administratively closed while the parties negotiate a settlement, and the FBI is running a separate criminal investigation.¹²

What the SEC Says Happened

Between April 2020 and November 2022, REV raised more than $230 million from at least 660 investors nationwide, according to the complaint. Roughly $112 million of that came through what the SEC calls fraudulent offerings in eight REV portfolio companies. Investors bought two kinds of securities: unsecured promissory notes promising annualized returns of up to 25%, and equity membership units promising monthly dividends of about 2%.³¹

The pitch, the SEC says, was false. None of the portfolio companies ever turned a profit. Internal records cited in the complaint show Dressbarn losing $13.7 million in 2020 and $10.7 million in 2021, and Stein Mart losing $1.7 million and $5.7 million in the same years. By mid-2022, REV and its brands were collectively losing between $3.8 million and $12 million a month.⁴

The defendants nevertheless told investors the brands were “on fire” and that “cash flow is strong,” according to the complaint. To keep the interest and dividend payments flowing, the SEC alleges, they commingled money across portfolio companies, took out merchant cash advances and other loans, and used money from new investors to pay earlier ones. At least $5.9 million in payments to existing investors was funded entirely by other investors’ money rather than by business revenue, the agency says.¹

On top of that, the SEC alleges Lopez and Mehr diverted about $16.1 million of investor money for personal use: $12.5 million by Lopez and $3.6 million by Mehr. Burkenroad, Lopez’s cousin and REV’s president and later COO, is alleged to have received weekly spreadsheets from the head bookkeeper detailing cash shortfalls and to have personally directed how money was moved between accounts to keep the payments going.³

Lopez used his social media following heavily to recruit backers, the SEC says, pitching investment opportunities on Facebook and Instagram, holding biweekly investor Zoom calls, and hosting in-person events in Las Vegas and Puerto Rico. In promotional messages he leaned on urgency, telling prospects things like “don’t call our bluff, this deal folds this Friday.”⁵⁶

Investor payments stopped in late 2022. On December 15, 2022, Lopez held a Zoom call announcing the financial ruin of the companies and the end of payments. REV ceased operations in 2024.⁵⁷

The Charges and What the SEC Is Seeking

Lopez and Mehr are charged under Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, along with Rule 10b-5. Burkenroad faces her own fraud charges under both statutes and is additionally charged with aiding and abetting the violations by Lopez and Mehr.¹

The agency is asking the court for:

Permanent injunctions barring all three defendants from future securities law violations
Civil monetary penalties
Officer-and-director bars preventing them from serving in those roles at public companies
Disgorgement of the funds Lopez and Mehr allegedly misappropriated, plus prejudgment interest

Where the Case Stands

The case, Securities and Exchange Commission v. Taino Adrian Lopez, et al., Case No. 1:25-cv-24356, was assigned to Judge Rodolfo A. Ruiz II. Since it was filed, Judge Ruiz has granted a series of stays so the parties can pursue what filings describe as “active and detailed settlement negotiations,” and the case is administratively closed for now. A court order issued June 8, 2026, directed the parties to file a status report by June 30, 2026, indicating either that they have a tentative settlement ready for SEC Commission approval or that the court should reopen the case and require the defendants to formally answer the complaint. No trial date has been set.²

The civil suit is not the only exposure. The FBI is running a separate criminal investigation and has been interviewing investors who lost money. As of February 2026, no criminal charges had been filed, and reporting on the probe noted that any SEC settlement would not shield the defendants from later criminal prosecution.⁸

After the SEC filed its charges, Lopez posted on X: “Never doom. No matter how horrible the situation, don’t ever think you’re doomed. Unless you are dead, all defeat is psychological.”⁵

1
SEC. Litigation Release No. 26413
2
CourtListener. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Lopez
3
SEC. SEC Complaint, Case No. 1:25-cv-24356
4
CFO.com. Retailers Investors Fall Victim to Alleged Ponzi Scheme
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Insurance News Net. SEC: Get Rich Quick Influencer Tai Lopez Was Running a Ponzi Scam
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SBO Financial. Tai Lopez REV Ponzi Scheme
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Retail Dive. Pier 1, Stein Mart Ownership Changes Hands to Omni Retail Enterprises
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New York Post. FBI Probes Self-Help Guru Tai Lopez in Ponzi Scheme That Acquired RadioShack, Pier 1 Imports