A self-proclaimed investment guru has agreed to a settlement with federal securities regulators over charges he bilked hundreds of fellow Haitian Americans out of $23.4 million, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Wednesday.

George Theodule, who now lives in Georgia, agreed to an injunction without admitting or denying the SEC's allegations.

A court will now determine just what civil penalties Theodule must pay.

Theodule's lawyer, Russell Weigel, declined to comment.

The SEC filed charges against Theodule last December, alleging he was running a Ponzi scheme involving thousands of Haitian-Americans across the country. His companies, Creative Capital Consortium and A Creative Capital Concept$, were placed in receivership in order to safeguard and freeze the assets.

Beginning in 2007, Theodule, who moved to Georgia from Wellington, created a group of investment clubs across the country, where he claimed the money would be used to help fund business ventures in the United States, Haiti and Sierra Leone, and would have a 100 percent return on investments within 90 days, the SEC said.

In actuality, the SEC said it was a Ponzi scheme, with Theodule paying off older investors with money new people sent in.

These types of cases, involving affinity fraud, can range from simple to highly complex investment schemes.

While people may think of affinity fraud as something that relates to religion, ethnic background or language, it can affect any type of investor, said Glenn Gordon, an associate regional director for the SEC's Miami office.

``The market simply does not provide for high returns and low risk: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.''