INDIANAPOLIS – An Indianapolis financial broker has been charged by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for his alleged role in what regulators describe as a $300 million Ponzi scheme that affected thousands of investors across the country, including in Indiana.
The SEC announced it filed a civil complaint Dec. 19 against Gerardo “Gerry” Linarducci, 61, a former managing partner of Drive Planning LLC and the head of the firm’s Indiana branch office. The complaint was filed in federal court in Georgia, where Drive Planning was based.
According to the SEC, Linarducci played an “integral role” in promoting and selling the company’s Real Estate Acceleration Loans, known as REAL, which were marketed as short-term real estate investments promising a “guaranteed” 10 percent annual return.
Federal regulators allege those guarantees were false. Instead of being backed by legitimate real estate lending, the SEC says money from new investors was used to pay earlier investors — a hallmark of a Ponzi-style operation.
The SEC alleges Drive Planning raised more than $336 million between September 2020 and May 2024 from more than 2,000 investors nationwide. Linarducci is accused of personally raising more than $13 million from investors and receiving a little more than half of that amount in compensation from the firm.
The REAL program was marketed as a low-risk opportunity tied to real estate developers, with assurances of collateral and steady returns. The SEC contends the investments were unregistered securities, sold without required disclosures, and that investors were misled about how their money was actually used.
Linarducci is charged with multiple violations of federal securities laws, including securities fraud, aiding and abetting fraud, offering and selling unregistered securities, and operating as an unregistered broker.
The SEC is seeking civil penalties, the return of allegedly ill-gotten gains with interest, and a court order barring Linarducci from future violations of securities laws.
Drive Planning is no longer operating. The allegations outlined in the SEC complaint have not yet been proven in court, and the case remains ongoing.
