Alleged Ponzi scheme mastermind Robert Shapiro and related companies have agreed to pay more than $125 million to settle civil fraud charges, but the settlement won’t necessarily mean much cash for bilked investors, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Shapiro, his Woodbridge Group of Cos. and related businesses were accused of defrauding thousands of investors in a suit brought last year in federal court in Florida by the Securities and Exchange Commission. A proposed settlement of that suit calls for Shapiro to pay a $100 million penalty, and to return millions of dollars obtained on false premises. Read closely, the SEC federal court filings describe a judgment consented to by Shapiro, who neither admits nor denies the fraud allegations. Once the judgment is approved, the SEC will still have to take action to collect the cash. The problem is, Shapiro doesn’t have the money, according to lawyers working to recover money for Woodbridge investors.
