Legal Matters

In an urgent response, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken decisive action to halt an alleged Ponzi scheme operated by Nayeem Choudhury, a resident of Durham, North Carolina, and his hedge fund, Dream Venture Capital Group LLC. The SEC filed a complaint with the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina, exposing Choudhury's deceptive tactics of offering a purportedly risk-free investment opportunity in his hedge fund, while falsely boasting about its exceptional performance. Contrary to Choudhury's claims, an investigation revealed his actual track record, which involved consistent monthly trading losses totaling six and seven figures. Over the period from August 2022 to June 2023, Dream Venture incurred losses exceeding $4.8 million in options trading. Moreover, the complaint alleges that Choudhury misappropriated investor funds, using money from new investors to repay existing ones and even funding personal expenses, such as the purchase of an $85,000 luxury car in May 2023. Despite receiving approximately $3.5 million [...]

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently concluded its investigation and reached a settlement with RSE Markets Inc. regarding allegations of operating as an unregistered securities exchange. RSE Markets was engaged in running a marketplace that facilitated the buying and selling of securities, specifically equity interests in collectible assets like valuable cars and watches. The SEC's order states that RSE operated the Rally Platform, comprising the RallyRd.com website, the Rally App, and associated trading functionality, between July 1, 2018, and November 20, 2021. The platform catered to retail investors in the United States, enabling them to purchase and sell securities. The secondary market trading for these securities was exclusively conducted on the Rally Platform during specific trading windows arranged by RSE. To match orders, RSE utilized an algorithm based on price and time priority, arriving at a final clearing price for executing matched orders. Both buyers and sellers had to confirm their willingness to transact at the final clearing price. [...]

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed charges against Joseph Michael "Mike" Todd and his companies, Todd Financial Services, LLC (TFS), and TFS Insurance Services LLC (TFS Insurance), for engaging in fraudulent activities that victimized at least 20 brokerage customers, resulting in the misappropriation of a minimum of $3 million. According to the complaint, Todd, who worked as a registered representative and investment adviser representative at a dual-registered broker-dealer and investment adviser, employed deceptive tactics to obtain funds from investors. He advised his brokerage customers to write checks payable to TFS, TFS Insurance, or himself, falsely promising to invest the funds in various securities. Instead, Todd diverted the money for personal use, spending it on real estate, boating, hunting, casinos, and adult entertainment. To cover up his scheme, Todd presented forged account statements or portfolio holdings statements to his defrauded customers, showing fake entries indicating their investments in the promised products. Shockingly, many of Todd's victims were seniors and [...]