SEC accuses man of fraud targeting deaf investors

WASHINGTON – Federal regulators have filed civil fraud charges against a man who they say raised about $3.4 million in a scam targeting deaf investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the charges Friday against Jody Dunn of Corinth, Texas. The SEC says in a lawsuit that Dunn, who is deaf, bilked more than 7,000 people by offering investments in life-insurance policies that never delivered on promised big returns.

Dunn allegedly used $353,000 of the money he raised to cover his mortgage and other expenses, and put the rest into a firm's offshore accounts.

The firm claimed to sell investments in insurance policies bought at a discount from the terminally ill or elderly. The SEC said none of the deaf investors' money was used for that purpose.

Dunn couldn't be reached.