The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil complaint on Sept. 23, 2026 against Michael D. Williams of Port St. Lucie, Florida, and his company, CMI Capital LLC, which also did business as Check Mate Investments. The SEC alleges that the two raised about $860,000 from at least 18 investors, many of them current or retired South Florida law enforcement officers, and that Williams has repaid more than $375,000. Every claim below is an allegation by the SEC, and neither defendant has been found liable by a court.
What the SEC filed in the Southern District of Florida
The agency announced the case in press release 2026-92, and the complaint was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida. It accuses Williams and CMI Capital of violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933, the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, along with registration provisions of the 1933 law. According to the SEC, the alleged conduct ran from October 2023 through August 2024.
A complaint is the start of a case, not the end of one. The SEC is asking the court to decide whether the violations occurred, and the release reports no ruling on that question. Until a judge or a settlement says otherwise, the account of what Williams and CMI Capital did rests on what the SEC says it can prove.
A claimed $5 million portfolio and returns “surpassing 140 percent”
The SEC alleges that investors were told the portfolio was worth more than $5 million and that returns were surpassing 140 percent. The agency says those claims were backed with images rather than statements. “We allege that one of the tactics the defendants used to trick investors was to send them cropped screenshots of graphics that showed exorbitant trading profits,” said Stephanie N. Moot, director of the SEC’s Miami Regional Office, in the release.
Investor.gov, the SEC’s investor-education site, lists several traits of investment fraud that overlap with what the complaint describes. Its page on Ponzi schemes flags “high returns with little or no risk,” “overly consistent returns” and account statement errors as warning signs, and notes that trouble often surfaces when investors try to cash out. The SEC has not called this case a Ponzi scheme. The page is useful here as a plain list of the claims that deserve documents before money moves.
About $384,000 alleged misappropriated, and more than $375,000 repaid
The SEC puts the alleged misappropriation at about $384,000 of the roughly $860,000 raised. It says Williams began repaying investors in August 2024 and has repaid more than $375,000 in total. That repayment total is the SEC’s figure as of the filing date, so it can change as the case proceeds…