SEC charges 'Teach Me To Trade' promoters with fraud

Teach Me To Trade -- the company behind those annoying infomercials full of false promises and exaggerated claims -- has attracted the scorn of the Securities & Exchange Commission, which has filed civil fraud charges against Linda Woolf and David Gengler.

The SEC charges that "In order to con victims into paying as much as $40,000 for TMTT products and services, the Commission alleges that Woolf and Gengler lied about their success with the trading system, when in truth neither Woolf nor Gengler ever purchased TMTT's products or became successful traders."

SEC Chairman Chris Cox chastised the promoters for preying on the "elderly, the desperate, and even the unemployed by promising financial security while instead robbing victims blind."

The Commission alleges that, while the promoters portrayed themselves as successful traders, neither of them had ever reported a profit from trading on their tax returns.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia has also filed an indictment against the promoters.

Here's where it gets really interesting. The Teach Me To Trade "system" is part of the the Whitney Information Network (OTC: RUSS), which is dealing with an SEC investigation of its own. That company's namesake and former CEO? Russ Whitney, whose rap sheet includes armed robbery.

It's been said before but it's worth saying again; Late-night infomercials are not the place to find the secrets to tremendous wealth, and if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.