Sacramento ‘beauty pageant queen’ confesses to $10M Ponzi scheme

A Sacramento woman who proclaimed herself as a beauty pageant queen has pleaded guilty to swindling investors out of more than $10 million to pay for vacations, gambling and other expenses supporting a luxurious lifestyle.

Maria Dickerson, 49, also known as “Dulce Pino,” ran a four-year Ponzi scheme from 2020 to 2024, according to the US Attorney’s Office in charge of the Eastern District of California.

Dickerson sold interests in a fake shell company called Creative Legal Fundings of California, telling investors their money was safe, secure, and backed by significant capital.

She lied to some investors that the company was associated with an unnamed CEO of a multinational casino and resort corporation.

She told investors she was a beauty pageant queen and a former “Ms. Woman Nevada,” according to a cease-and-desist order from the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation. She even hosted one individual in a Las Vegas hotel suite to pitch her scheme.

Dickerson promised a 10 percent rate of return. The truth: She used the cash to pay off prior investors to keep the fraud going.

Meanwhile, she made expensive purchases such as a Mercedes Benz, designer goods, and a house in Sacramento. She vacationed, gambled, and flew on private jets using the money.

At least $7 million of the money swindled was targeted from the Filipino American community, according to US Securities and Exchange Commission.

She even attempted to open up another Ponzi scheme under a new company, The Ubiquity Group, after running out of money to pay the Creative Legal Funding’s investors in May 2023, the commission alleged.

It was during that year that investors began requesting to withdraw their funds, but Creative Legal repeatedly refused to do so, the state’s financial regulator said.

“As alleged, Creative Legal Fundings’ operations were neither creative, nor legal. This was nothing more than fraud perpetrated against retail investors,” Monique C. Winkler, director of the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office, said in a statement.

Dickerson will be sentenced in July and faces up to 40 years in prison and a $5.25 million fine for two counts of wire fraud and securities fraud.

Dickerson did win a state-level title in the United States National Pageants system, according to its website.

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