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Boca Raton couple has been accused of defrauding investors out of millions of dollars in a real estate investment scheme. According to a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) lawsuit, Janalie C. Bingham and her husband, Jean Joseph, promised investors that their funds would be used to purchase, develop, and renovate commercial and residential real estate properties across South Florida through their company, Wells Real Estate Investment. However, the SEC alleges that only $11 million of the $56 million raised from 660 people nationwide was actually used for real estate investments, while the majority of the funds, about $28 million, were used for speculative options and futures trading that resulted in a loss of at least $11.9 million.

    The SEC has charged Bingham, Joseph, and Wells with violations of federal securities laws' antifraud and broker-dealer registration provisions. The lawsuit also named 23 entities affiliated with Wells as relief defendants, some of which were used to open brokerage accounts at broker-dealers.

    On Aug. 14, a federal judge in West Palm Beach granted the SEC's emergency motion to freeze the assets of Wells, Bingham, and Joseph, as well as requiring them to provide sworn accountings and prohibiting them from destroying records. The judge also appointed Andrés Rivero as receiver over Wells and the relief defendants.

    The SEC originally filed its complaint on Aug. 12, but it wasn't unsealed until last week. The case marks the latest allegation of massive real estate fraud in South Florida, following an alleged $1.2 billion embezzlement from Venezuela's state-owned oil company, where some of the funds were laundered through payment for a unit at Sunny Isles Beach's Porsche Design Tower.

    The SEC charges that $6.9 million was diverted to pay commissions to sales agents, and $10 million was allegedly diverted to pay interest due to investors and note redemptions in a Ponzi aspect of the scheme. Bingham and Joseph also allegedly used at least $1.8 million for personal expenses, including groceries, luxury cars, cash withdrawals, and a $293,000 settlement of a separate lawsuit.

    An entity tied to Wells paid nearly $2 million for a five-bedroom Boca Raton home at 930 Parkside Circle North last year. In August of last year, the entity transferred the home to Bingham for a nominal $10.

    Wells, which ran its alleged scheme from 2020 to this year, gave its enterprise an air of legitimacy by touting the firm's $450 million real estate portfolio and Bingham's credentials as having built her own property holdings worth over $100 million. However, the SEC says that Wells' portfolio spanned only 34 properties valued at about $46 million at the time of their purchase.

    Through a network of unregistered agents, Wells promised that its promissory notes investment platform, called "assets-to-income program," would yield high returns in the form of 12 percent annual interest for 18-month to 28-month notes. Wells also promised that if investors forgo monthly interest payments, then they would get 99 percent interest at the end of the term for 36-month notes, according to the SEC. Many investors put in their retirement funds. But Wells' properties in reality generated insufficient income to cover expenses and pay back investors, the SEC says.

    In February, Wells and Bingham were also hit with a foreclosure lawsuit from lender Best Meridian over a $7.2 million loan on the Bank of America Financial Center at 3661 West Oakland Park Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale.

    The SEC's lawsuit also revealed that Joseph is a convicted felon who pleaded guilty in 2019 to one count of wire fraud for misappropriating $3 million while operating his company, Evergreen United Investments. Joseph was ordered to pay this amount as restitution, sentenced to 15 months in prison in 2019, and placed on supervised release in 2021, according to the SEC's lawsuit.