Stanley Roberson, which may not be his real name, is accused of running a bogus credit union under the name Stanley McDuffie.

Federal regulators say a Colorado man for years ran a bogus credit union through the Virgin Islands and bilked more than $532,000 from unsuspecting customers.

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Denver, the Securities and Exchange Commission says Stanley McDuffie who the SEC and Colorado law enforcement say is also known as Stanley Roberson, Stanley Battle and Stanley Robertson-Baffle did this by offering unrealistic returns on certificates of deposit he advertised on the Internet.

The SEC says the purported credit union, known as Her Majesty's Credit Union, was no such thing at all and that it was little more than a funnel for McDuffie to siphon funds from a tiny office in Denver and later in Watkins.

The case is the latest in a string of efforts by regulators to determine what the business was really up to. As Roberson it's unclear which is his real name he was jailed in late 2010 when a Denver district court judge found him in contempt for refusing to provide documents to Colorado's banking commissioner during an investigation into Her Majesty's.

McDuffie, 46, has said in court papers that he has never been convicted of contempt, implying that McDuffie and Roberson and the others are all different people. Whatever the truth, the SEC so far can't seem to get any two of them in the same place at the same time.

McDuffie could be reached only through his lawyer, E. Dale Parrish of Golden, who said his client wasn't ready to comment. Telephone numbers listed for McDuffie's home and businesses here and in Hampton, Ga. the same ones used by Roberson have been disconnected. Parrish said McDuffie ultimately will be vindicated.

"All I can say is there is much more to this than even the SEC knows," Parrish said.

He added that the credit union has since closed because of the pressure.

"Stan feels as if the closure was forced and leveraged," Parrish said.

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Colorado man accused of running phony credit union in Virgin Islands