Paul Regan pleads guilty to $50M Ponzi scheme targeting retirees

Paul Regan recorded his own sales calls to teach insurance agents how to defraud elderly investors, then uploaded the files as training material.

Paul Regan, a 49-year-old financier barred from the securities industry since 2004, pleaded guilty in March to three felony fraud charges for operating a Ponzi scheme that misappropriated at least $50 million of the $63 million raised from more than 300 investors, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

"Regan made no meaningful investments in precious metals or health-insurance policies — the two strategies he claimed would generate guaranteed returns of 10% to 15% annually," prosecutors said in the indictment, which also alleged he and his associates forged insurance documents. Instead, the scheme paid earlier clients with money from later investors.

Regan's two firms, Next Level Holdings and Yield Wealth, promised investors annual returns of 10% to 15% for up to 10 years, backed by what he described as an international gold mining and trading operation and discounted health-insurance policies. He told prospects the yields were guaranteed by an insurance consortium including Lloyd's of London. The SEC alleged Regan misappropriated at least $50 million by late 2024, when it filed civil fraud charges in September 2025.

The case offers rare insight into the psychology of financial fraud because Regan recorded nearly 20 of his own sales pitches and shared them as training materials with the insurance agents who sold his products. The Wall Street Journal reviewed the recordings, videos and screenshots related to his operations, confirming their authenticity with the clients featured in them. Regan will be sentenced in August; his plea agreement requires full restitution, though it remains unclear how much investors will recover.

The Playbook: Empathy, Authority and False Guarantees

Regan tailored his pitch to each victim's vulnerabilities. On a call with a 75-year-old disabled Vietnam veteran investing for himself and a friend with Alzheimer's, Regan called the arrangement "something that's sacred" and said there was "a special kind of hell" for anyone who would put them at risk. The investor committed $600,000.

To a 71-year-old woman who said she had worked two jobs her entire life and had no family, Regan described himself as "your deliverance" and promised "peace of mind." She invested more than $150,000.

Regan told clients his offerings carried "zero risk," likening the purported insurance to "a bulletproof vest that you can wake up with and go to sleep with." He claimed government agencies including the SEC had approved his documents — a statement the SEC says is a criminal offense. When one investor asked whether the product "could be one of those Bernie Madoff things," Regan dismissed the comparison and closed the sale.

A Sales Force of the Desperate and the Unlicensed

Regan recruited dozens of insurance agents, many with little investing knowledge and some hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt, dangling commissions as high as 15%. He and sales chief Jonathan Guzman told agents they did not need securities licenses to sell the offerings — a potential violation of federal law. Guzman has not been charged.

In August 2022, Regan contacted Anthony Liddle, who had just been barred from the securities industry and was awaiting trial on federal fraud charges. "That's exactly why I'm contacting you," Regan told Liddle after Liddle disclosed he had cheated his clients, according to Liddle. Regan offered a starting salary of $300,000 to $400,000 with a bonus of up to $200,000. Liddle later pleaded guilty to wire fraud and money laundering and is serving an eight-year federal prison sentence.

Regan rewarded loyalty with perks. In March 2024, he flew several dozen U.S. insurance agents to Medellín, Colombia, for a three-day junket featuring gold ingots, financial presentations and all-night parties at a palatial ranch. But behind the scenes, he demanded absolute obedience. When an agent called a marketing firm to verify a deal, Regan described him as a "waste of human f—ing skin" and demanded he be fired, according to a recording reviewed by the Journal.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.