SEC Files Complaint Against Former Marine Aubin in Alleged Ponzi Scheme, After GoLocal Investigation
GoLocalProv News Team
SEC Files Complaint Against Former Marine Aubin in Alleged Ponzi Scheme, After GoLocal Investigation
Also named in the government’s complaint is Aubin’s girlfriend, Ashley Corcoran and companies he is believed to control.
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GoLocal first reported the alleged scheme in September of 2024.
The government states in its 19-page complaint, “The use of later investors’ funds to repay earlier investors whose investments had matured is characteristic of a Ponzi scheme.”
The money, according to the government, was used for personal uses:
On information and belief, on or about February 7, 2024, Aubin spent about $66,805 from Anchor State’s bank accounts to purchase a BMW automobile. Aubin then gave that automobile to Corcoran for her personal use. Corcoran thus received a personal benefit to which she was not entitled.
On numerous occasions in 2023 and 2024, funds from Anchor State’s bank accounts were used to pay for luxury travel, including private jet transport, for Aubin and Corcoran. Corcoran thus received a personal benefit from these gifts of travel to which she was not entitled.
On April 23, 2024, Aubin transferred $20,000 from one of Anchor State’s bank accounts to his personal bank account and then, the same day, withdrew $15,000 from that personal account in the form of a bank check made payable to Corcoran’s mother with a notation on the check that it was “Re: Ashley E. Corcoran.”
The charges include fraud and unjust enrichment.
SEC Complaint
“This case involves the misappropriation and misuse of investor assets by Aubin and his companies, Anchor State Capital LLC and Anchor State Properties LLC. Together, Anchor State Capital LLC, formerly known as Anchor State Investments LLC, and Anchor State Properties LLC will be referred to as “Anchor State.” Defendants engaged in a fraudulent scheme and made and used false and misleading statements in connection with the sale of Anchor State securities. In total, the Commission estimates that Defendants raised over $2.5 million from at least 24 investors between at least April 2023 and at least December 2024,” wrote the SEC in the complaint.
Further, the government assert, “As part of their scheme to defraud, Defendants issued Anchor State securities to investors in the form of “Investment Contracts,” “Real Estate Partner Contracts,” or “Partner Contracts.” These contracts, typically signed by Anchor State and by each investor, promised investors that: (1) Anchor State would use money invested with Anchor State to make short-term, high-interest rate loans to borrowers as an alternative to traditional financing; (2) some of Anchor State’s loans were “hard money” loans, meaning that they were secured by the value of the underlying property for which the loan was being provided and Anchor State would repay the loans if the borrower defaulted; (3) the loan proceeds would be used solely to finance specific loans made to Anchor State borrowers; and (4) investors would be repaid their principal and their investment profit when the investment contracts matured, from the principal and interest payments made by the loan borrowers.”
“In truth, Defendants made very few real loans to borrowers and instead used investors’ funds largely to make payments to earlier investors and to pay for Defendants’ own business expenses and the personal expenses of Aubin and Relief Defendant Corcoran. Those personal expenses included lavish meals, luxury travel and vehicles. Defendants’ scheme thus has many hallmarks of a Ponzi scheme,” according to the government’s complaint.
“In the course of soliciting investments, and lulling investors who were inquiring about why they had not been repaid when their investments matured, Defendants made numerous false and/or misleading statements to investors. Defendants misrepresented: the uses to which investors’ money had been put, the existence and status of the loans for which the investments were purportedly made, the purported reasons why Defendants could not repay the loans when they were due, and the nature and success of Defendants’ business,” states the government.
According to the government and previously reported by GoLocal in 2024, Aubin would repeatedly say he had sent investors money, but never sent it.
The scheme was reported over and over again.
“Based on the information available to the Commission, Aubin and Anchor State took in at least $2 million more in investor deposits than they have repaid to investors,” claims the SEC.
This story was first reported 5/15/25 3:43 PM