Maria Checa

Maria Checa (born July 29, 1970 in Bogotá, Colombia) is a Colombian-American model and actress. She was Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for its August 1994 issue. Her centerfold was photographed by Richard Fegley.

Maria, who moved with her family to Florida when she was a child, is also an accomplished artist who attended the Maryland Institute College of Art for a time. She also attended and graduated from The New World School of the Arts in Miami.

On December 18, 2008, the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission filed a complaint (SEC v. Devlin, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Case No. 08-Civ-11001 (JGK)) alleging a scheme for trading stocks on inside information ahead of public announcements of mergers and acquisitions. The complaint alleges that, among other people, one Jamil A. Bouchareb traded on inside information. The complaint names as a "relief defendant" Maria T. Checa, age 38, a resident of Greensboro, North Carolina, who worked as a model and actress, and states that Checa and Bouchareb lived together from about September 2004 until mid-2007. The complaint alleges that Bouchareb provided inside information to Checa, and that Checa and her company Checa International traded on the inside information, and that Checa, Checa International, Bouchareb, his parents and others to whom he provided information reaped illegal profits of more than $4.2 million. The complaint alleges that it would not be just, equitable or conscionable to allow Checa and Checa International to retain illegal profits obtained as part of and in furtherance of the securities fraud and seeks to recover such profits from Checa and Checa International, though it is not alleged that they violated the law. (Bouchareb was also criminally charged in a related case brought by the U.S. Attorney.)