The British Columbia Securities Commission (BCSC) has accused a Canadian woman residing in Washington State of operating a Ponzi scheme that raised $135.4 million from at least 800 investors in Canada and the United States. Doris Elizabeth Nelson disguised the Ponzi scheme as a payday loan business, the BCSC alleged in a notice of hearing (PDF). The notice also stated that Nelson's scheme raised over $69 million from at least 355 B.C. investors. The notice further alleges that when the BCSC notified Nelson of an investigation in 2008, she told investors that she would make false statements to the Commission and subsequently coached them to hide relevant information from investigators. Nelson allegedly financed the growth of her business by raising funds from investors in British Columbia and the United States. In return for investors’ money, she had her companies issue promissory notes. "Nelson represented to investors, both directly and through her recruiters, that banks refused
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