Auza

*687 MEMORANDUM **

The bankruptcy court’s finding that UDI was a Ponzi scheme is not clearly erroneous. A Ponzi scheme is “an arrangement whereby an enterprise makes payments to investors from the proceeds of a later investment rather than from profits of the underlying business venture.” In re Agric. Research and Tech. Group, Inc., 916 F.2d 528, 531 (9th Cir.1990). Auza conceded that UDI made payments to lenders from money obtained from later lenders, rather than from business profits. Auza cites no legal authority for his argument that the Trustee cannot avoid transfers to Auza unless the transfer was money UDI received from later investors, and we are aware of none.

A “debtor’s actual intent to hinder, delay or defraud its creditors may be inferred from the mere existence of a Ponzi scheme.” Id. at 535 . Accordingly, UDI’s transfers to Auza were fraudulent under Arizona Revised Statute section 44-1004, and therefore avoidable under 11 U.S.C. § 544 (b).

The district court properly determined that the transfer from Hoover to Auza was avoidable under 11 U.S.C. § 544 (b), because Auza does not rebut the inescapable inference that UDI had an interest in the money paid by Hoover…