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WEKU
WEKU
Business
Bill Chappell

A Florida woman touted as a 'Mother Teresa' ran a $196 million Ponzi scheme, feds say

MJ Capital Funding's website said that its founder, Johanna Garcia, was "often referred to as 'Mother Teresa' in her community." But federal authorities say Garcia was actually running a Ponzi scheme. The site was shut down by court order; an archived version is seen here. (Internet Archive / Screenshot by NPR)

She said she worked miracles — not for charity, but for profit: Johanna M. Garcia connected investors with companies that needed short-term financing, promising robust returns on their money. But federal prosecutors say it wasn't a miracle; it was a lucrative Ponzi scheme.

The Florida woman is accused of perpetuating a $196 million fraud through MJ Capital Funding LLC, the company she started in the Fort Lauderdale area. Her business took in that large amount of money from more than 15,400 investors in just over a year, from June 2020 to August 2021, federal investigators say.

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