06/08/2026
Today, Loftus & Eisenberg filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of Chicago-area investors who allegedly lost an estimated $15 million this morning in the Circuit Court of Cook County against Brandon “Mr. Finance” Ellington and his company, Access Capital Today, Inc. — and against three Chicago broadcasters who, the complaint alleges, lent him the airwaves and the institutional credibility that made the scheme possible.
The lawsuit alleges that "Mr. Finance" and Access Capital Today, made extraordinary promises of guaranteed returns while encouraging investors to borrow against their homes, use credit, and liquidate retirement savings to invest. According to the lawsuit, the victims were, overwhelmingly, the people least able to absorb the loss — elderly, retired, working-class, and churchgoing Chicagoans, solicited inside the Black community and over gospel and soul radio.
What sets the case apart is who else it names. The complaint alleges that WGN-TV (owned by Nexstar Media Group and licensed to Tribune Media Company), iHeartMedia, and Crawford Broadcasting did not merely run paid advertisements. According to the lawsuit, the stations produced “Mr. Finance” segments in their own studios, had their own news anchors introduce and personally vouch for Ellington as a vetted wealth “expert,” and — critically — kept promoting him even after the Secretary of State called his operation a Ponzi-like scheme.
“A fraud this size does not reach into people’s retirement accounts by itself — it needs trusted hands to carry it there,” said Alex Loftus of Loftus & Eisenberg, Ltd., counsel for the plaintiffs. “We have seen this before. We recovered tens of millions of dollars from the enablers of a Hollywood Ponzi scheme. Here, the alleged enablers were Chicago broadcasters who put their anchors and their credibility behind a convicted felon — and kept doing it after the State of Illinois told the public he was running a Ponzi-like scheme.”
We are proud to stand with those seeking justice and financial recovery.
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The complaint contains allegations that have not been proven in court. The defendants have not yet responded to the lawsuit, and no court has ruled on the claims.
