SEC, CFTC and DOJ Take Action Against Alleged $1‑Billion Valuation Fraud

Valuation is a perennial priority for the SEC and an issue for other regulators, too. The SEC and the CFTC recently filed parallel civil enforcement complaints against the founder of an investment adviser in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claiming that he perpetrated a massive valuation fraud by manipulating the models used by a pricing service to value over-the-counter swaps held by a private fund and a mutual fund advised by the adviser he founded and controlled. The regulators also assert that he misled investors about his control over the valuation process and engaged in efforts to conceal the fraud by falsifying records provided to fund auditors and the SEC. This article details the alleged fraud, the alleged violations, the relief the regulators are seeking and the parallel criminal indictment. See “SEC Sanctions and Bars Adviser’s Principal and Three Employees for Fraudulent Valuation Practices” (Dec. 2, 2021); and “Manipulating Fund Valuations Can Bring Penalties From Multiple Regulators” (Sep. 5, 2019).

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