MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. authorities charged three Floridians on Friday in an alleged $14 million Ponzi scheme that defrauded hundreds of Haitian American investors.

The men were accused of selling unsecured notes through two companies, HomePals LLC and HomePals Investment Club LLC, and promising to double investors' money every 90 days by trading stock options and commodities.

Ronnie Eugene Bass, 35, of Miramar, Florida; Abner Alabre, 33, of North Miami Beach, Florida; and Brian Taglieri, 49, of Jupiter, Florida, face criminal charges of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, securities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission also charged the men with securities violations in a civil complaint.

"The extraordinary promises made by these three men spread by word of mouth throughout a close-knit community," SEC official Glenn Gordon said in a statement. "Bass presented himself as a master trader of stock options and commodities when in reality he was a master of deceit."

The scheme targeted Haitians in south Florida and New Jersey, and pooled money from as many as 64 investment clubs, officials said.

Bass traded only about $1.2 million of the $14.3 million raised from investors, generating losses of 19 percent, and by the end of last year HomePals had only $7,300 left, the SEC said.

The company used the bulk of the money they received to repay earlier investors, while the three men misappropriated at least $668,000, which was used to buy a home and a car, the SEC said.

Taglieri diverted $85,000 of investor funds to make overdue child support payments, officials said.

A fourth man, Michael Muzio of Tampa, Florida, was indicted in the criminal action on money laundering charges.

(Reporting by Jim Loney, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)