Traffic Monsoon

Traffic Monsoon LLC was a Utah-based international Ponzi scheme founded by Charles David Scoville in October 2014. The company offered bundled advertising services called 'AdPacks' for $50 each, promising investors a 55% return (total $27.50 profit) in exchange for clicking on other customers' online ads. Scoville registered the company in Utah and operated it from his apartment in Murray.

The scheme grew to recruit more than 162,000 investors from around the world, raising over $207 million before the SEC filed a complaint in July 2016 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah. The SEC alleged that Traffic Monsoon was a massive Ponzi scheme where returns to existing investors were funded almost entirely by new investor purchases of AdPacks.

The court froze Traffic Monsoon's assets and appointed a receiver. Scoville contested the SEC's claims through lengthy litigation that reached the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, which upheld the SEC's position. The case resulted in Scoville being ordered to pay nearly $5 million in penalties. Traffic Monsoon remains one of the largest advertising-themed Ponzi schemes ever prosecuted.