Alleged Mantria fraud total raised to $54.5 million

Mantria Corp., an alleged Ponzi scheme operated by two Manayunk residents defrauded investors of $54.5 million, up from a previous estimate of $30 million, according to a court filing Friday by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In November 2009, the SEC initiated civil charges against Mantria, alleging that the Bala Cynwyd company made bogus claims and falsely promised enormous returns from the development of housing in rural Tennessee and green technology.

Troy B. Wragg and Amanda E. Knorr founded and operated Mantria, which used $17.5 million of new investor money to pay investor returns, the SEC said.

The lawsuit was filed in Colorado because Mantria worked with a securities promoter, Speed of Wealth L.L.C., based there.

The most recent filing, a motion for summary judgment, asked the U.S. District Court in Denver for permanent injunctions against Wragg, Knorr, and Speed of Wealth owner Wayde M. McKelvy that force them to give up ill-gotten gains and pay penalties.

Mantria built an elaborate infrastructure to attract investors, including a $3.2 million plant to produce a charcoal substitute, called biochar, in Dunlop, Tenn. That plant never generated sales, the SEC said, but trips to a so-called investor boot camp convinced many, including several interviewed by The Inquirer, that Mantria had a real business.

Wragg's sister, Tisa Dixson, said Friday she is in a group that wants to buy the biochar plant. She said she has been out of touch with her brother since December 2009.

A court-appointed receiver is overseeing the liquidation of Mantria assets to raise money for investors, who were promised returns ranging from 17 percent to "hundreds of percent rates of return" annually.

E-mail messages between McKelvy and Wragg were focused on the two getting rich. Wragg wrote: "We are all going to be very rich, but most importantly, we will be very rich together!"

During their depositions, Wragg and Knorr, who are in their late 20s, refused to answer substantive questions, citing Fifth Amendment rights.