SEC charges 'Cash Flow King' podcast host with Ponzi scheme - Financial Planning

The SEC is accusing a self-styled "Cash Flow King" of a multimillion-dollar Ponzi scheme using promissory notes supposedly backed by real estate in Ohio.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced allegations on Monday that Matthew Motil, a 42-year-old podcast host, author and resident of North Olmsted, Ohio, had raised about $11 million from at least 50 investors in a wide-ranging scam. The SEC alleges Motil encouraged investors to buy promissory notes supposedly backed by first mortgages on homes throughout his state.

Motil said he was going to use the money essentially to "flip" the properties — renovate and then rent or resell them. In fact, said federal regulators, the notes were collateralized in some cases by only a single home.

The SEC alleges that Motil used his podcast, "The Cash Flow King: The Realest Real Estate Podcast," to encourage investors to put money into the scheme. Motil's website, drmattmotil.com, separately invited visitors to become a "real estate investing badass!" The site has since been taken down.

"We allege that Motil used podcasts and social media platforms to bolster his reputation as an investing expert while fraudulently targeting investors' hard-earned retirement assets, including, in at least one instance, almost the full balance of an investor's self-directed IRA," said Mark Cave, the associate director of the SEC's Division of Enforcement.

Attempts to reach Motil were unsuccessful. Motil is accused of selling some of his promissory notes through two real estate-related businesses he controlled: North Shore Equity Sales and North Shore Equity Management. Calls to their offices went unanswered.

Contrary to the promises Motil made, many of the promissory notes he offered were backed by a single property. In one instance, according to the SEC, he used a house that he had bought in Parma, Ohio, in November 2017 for $47,000 as a collateral for $1.3 million he was able to raise from at least 20 investors. The house was never worth more than $130,000, according to the SEC.

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Motil is alleged to have run his scheme roughly from October 2017 to May 2021. The SEC accuses him of using $3.7 million of the money he raised to perpetuate the Ponzi scheme by paying old investors with new investors' money. 

Roughly $1.6 million, according to the SEC, went to personal expenses, including $107,000 to rent a lakeside mansion for seven months and $73,000 for courtside seats at Cleveland Cavaliers games. About $900,000 was spent on other businesses he controlled, and thousands were diverted to his wife, Amy Doubrava Motil.

Motil filed for personal bankruptcy in March 2022. The SEC alleges that Motil, in his bankruptcy proceedings, has attempted to identify some of the victims of the Ponzi scheme as "creditors."

Aside from producing his podcast, Motil is the author of a book, "Man On Fire," carrying the subtitle "Lessons From a Perpetual Burnout on Creating Alignment for Success." Motil holds a Ph.D and often refers to himself as a doctor.