FRAUDSTER LEFT PRISON, BECAME PASTOR, STOLE $25 MILLION FROM FOLLOWERS: SEC

A fraudster convicted of running an investment scam emerged from prison as a pastor who targeted Orange County’s Vietnamese community in a $25 million Ponzi scheme, alleges the Securities and Exchange Commission.

After the SEC announcement was made Tuesday, a court appointed federal equity receiver and his Costa Mesa-based counsel revealed they are seeking the public’s help in finding victims, who are also believed to be residing in San Jose and Chicago.

Former Chicago options trader Kent R.E. Whitney was sentenced Dec. 8, 2011, to 44 months in prison after having pleaded guilty to wire fraud three months earlier, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois. He had swindled more than $600,000 from around 10 victims who invested with him.