Scott M. Ross, age 40, described himself as "Senior Managing Partner of Harbor Wealth Management Group, LLC, a comprehensive wealth and investment firm, and its subsidiaries, Harbor Private Funds, LLC and Harbor Capital Funds, LLC and as a "sought-after expert on financial topics and strategies."

On February 3, 2009 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a complaint against Ross in the northern district of Illinois. Among the funds he created, ostensibly for private investors, was Elucido Fund which purportedly invested in life settlement contracts. Two million investor dollars were collected for Elucido; Ross spent the money on personal luxuries.

Ross offered other fraudulent investments, collecting a total of $10 million from three hundred investors before the SEC filed its complaint and the judge ordered an asset freeze and the company placed in receivership.