SEC has charged Tai Lopez with operating a $112 million ponzi scheme
Two e-commerce entrepreneurs who acquired several well-known retail brands — among them RadioShack, Modell’s Sporting Goods, and Pier 1 Imports — out of bankruptcy are facing accusations of running a Ponzi scheme.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Monday charged Alex Mehr and Tai Lopez, co-founders of Miami-based Retail Ecommerce Ventures (REV), with defrauding investors of roughly $112 million.
Through REV, Mehr and Lopez purchased distressed brick-and-mortar retailers with the aim of transforming them into profitable, online-only businesses. Their portfolio also included Dress Barn and Linens ’n Things.
REV took over RadioShack in 2020, three years after the electronics chain — nearly a century old — filed for its second bankruptcy. The company had first sought Chapter 11 protection in 2015. In 2023, Unicomer Group acquired RadioShack and relaunched it as an e-commerce brand in 2024. The SEC filing notes that RadioShack’s current owners are not involved in the case.
Modell’s Sporting Goods entered bankruptcy in March 2020, announcing the closure of all its stores. REV acquired the Modell’s name and assets in August that year. Pier 1 Imports also declared bankruptcy in early 2020, later becoming an online-only brand after REV bought its trademark and assets.
According to the SEC, between 2020 and 2022, Mehr and Lopez “made material misrepresentations” to hundreds of investors regarding the companies they had purchased. To attract funding, they claimed that portfolio businesses were “on fire” and that “cash flow is strong.” They also told investors that capital raised for one company would only be invested in that firm — a claim the SEC says was false.
The lawsuit states: “Contrary to these representations, while some of the REV Retailer Brands generated revenue, none generated any profits. Consequently, in order to pay interest, dividends and maturing note payments, Defendants resorted to using a combination of loans from outside lenders, merchant cash advances, money raised from new and existing investors, and transfers from other portfolio companies to cover obligations.”
The SEC further alleges that at least $5.9 million in payments to investors were in fact Ponzi-style distributions funded by other investors rather than actual profits, and that Mehr and Lopez diverted $16 million of investor money for personal use.
REV Chief Operating Officer Maya Burkenroad, a cousin of Lopez, is also accused of assisting in the scheme. On the company’s website, she was described as having “over 10 years of experience managing multi-million-dollar companies.” The SEC complaint, however, contends that this was misleading, noting that before joining REV she had worked as a substitute preschool teacher, a radio station promoter, and an assistant to Lopez at an earlier venture.