Colorado officials levied an injunction against a Denver man who was allegedly defrauding women he met through dating apps and at the gym.

Colorado Securities Commissioner Tung Chan and 43-year-old Joseph Holder Jr. of Denver agreed to the permanent injunction — a court order that requires the party to stop doing a specific action — in connection to an alleged romance scam that occurred between 2019 and 2023, according to a news release from the Colorado Division of Securities. 

“Romance and the holidays can feel like a dream, but losing your money to an online scammer is not,” Chan said in the release.

Chan filed a civil complaint against Holder on Jan. 31, 2024, based on allegations that Holder targeted women he met via dating apps or at the gym to invest into a company offering hyaluronic acid injections, according to the civil complaint.

Between February 2019 and September 2023, Holder allegedly received money from multiple women after he established a “romantic or close personal relationship” with them, according to the complaint. Holder would then tell the women that the potential investment would lead to a profit seven-to-10 times greater than the initial investment.

He also told women that they could get their money back at any time, which was not true, the agency said.

Records indicate the women contributed funds in amounts between $950 and $25,300 and Holder received at least $121,000 overall, according to the complaint. He would then use the money for himself.

In the complaint, Chan called Holder a “serial predator” who targeted single mothers under financial strain.

Holder used fake screenshots and lies about a lavish lifestyle to lure the women into the investments, according to the complaint. He also created fake identities and letters from women claiming to have worked with him and received investment returns.

“His scheme entailed classic hallmarks of ‘pig butchering’ where one works to groom victims into personal, romantic relationships over time (fattening them up) only to then defraud them (butcher them),” the complaint said.

While the complaint did not note how many women were defrauded by Holder, it mentioned that only two investors were paid a return — and much less than they expected.

Interestingly, Holder told Division of Securities investigators that the investments were given to a clinic owned and operated by his former employer, Dr. Michael Rimlawi, according to the complaint.

Rimlawi was one of 14 people convicted and sentenced to a combined 74 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $83 million in restitution in Texas in 2021 in connection to a medical center bribery scam.

In the injunction, Holder agreed to refrain from selling or offering to sell securities or investments in, from, or to anyone in Colorado and represented that he repaid all investors, according to the release.

“It’s a red flag if someone on a dating app encourages you to invest in a business opportunity. We urge consumers to be skeptical online and reach out to us if they have been targeted in an investment scam.”