He should have seen this coming.
Federal regulators filed suit yesterday against a self-proclaimed psychic who allegedly scammed $6 million by conning suckers into believing that his extrasensory abilities would make them “piles of money” in foreign-currency trades.
Sean David Morton — who bills himself as “America’s Prophet” — “falsely touted his historical success in psychically predicting the various rises and falls of the market,” according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The California-based huckster — whose Web site shows him posing with such celebs as Sting and Robin Williams — duped more than 100 victims with promises that his Delphi Investment Group would bring “spiritual happiness and promote good works” along with “huge profits,” authorities said.
But his claims to have “called ALL the highs and lows of the market, giving EXACT DATES for rises and crashes over the last 14 years,” are belied by the facts, the Manhattan federal court suit says.
As an example, the SEC cited an April 2001 newsletter that predicted the Nasdaq index would skyrocket to “at least 6035” in 2003, when it never topped 2,100.
The SEC’s suit seeks to put an end to Morton’s alleged fraud and force him to cough up his “ill-gotten gains” along with unspecified fines.
Morton lured some of his victims at the 2006 “New Life Expo” in New York City and at a 2007 retreat in Mount Shasta, Calif., the suit says.
He also promoted his investing techniques during guest appearances on the nationally syndicated, late-night radio show “Coast to Coast AM.”
“We started with about $35,000, and right now we’re managing . . . four separate funds that are worth about $4.5 million total,” he bragged during a February 2007 broadcast.
The show was heard in New York on 77 WABC before getting dropped last month.
Morgan falsely claimed investor funds would be placed into three accounts, called Vajra Productions, 27 Investments and Magic Eight Ball Distributing, that were actually shell companies, the suit says.
In reality, the SEC says, Morton “invested only about half of the funds with foreign-currency trading firms” and diverted the rest, including $240,000 that went to a nonprofit religious organization called the Prophecy Research Institute, which he runs with his wife, Melissa, who’s also named in the suit.
Morton, who’s slated to appear this month at the New Life Expo at The New Yorker Hotel, didn’t respond to a request for comment.