U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 20858 / January 21, 2009
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Arthur Nadel, et al.,(U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, Civil Action No. 8:09-CV-00087-RAL-TBM filed January 21, 2009)
The Securities and Exchange Commission today filed a civil injunctive action in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida charging Arthur Nadel with fraud in connection with six hedge funds (the "Funds") for which he acted as the principal investment advisor. According to the Commission's complaint, Nadel provided false and misleading information for dissemination to investors about the Funds' historical returns and falsely overstated the value of investments in the Funds by approximately $300 million. In contrast, the Funds appear to have total assets of less than $1 million. Nadel has been missing since January 14, 2009.
The Commission's complaint also alleges that two entities with which Nadel was associated, and which separately or together provided investment advice to all of the Funds, also engaged in fraud as a result of Nadel's actions.
The Commission's complaint alleges that the defendants provided false and misleading information to the relief defendants for dissemination to investors through account statements and through offering memoranda. For example:
- Offering materials for three of the Funds represented that they had approximately $342 million in assets as of November 30, 2008. In contrast, those funds had a total of less than $1 million in assets at that time.
- Offering materials for several of the Funds represented monthly returns of around 11 - 12% between January and November 2008. In contrast, at least three of the Funds had negative returns during that time and another fund had lower than reported returns.
- One investor in one fund received an account statement for November 2008 indicating that her investment was valued at almost $420,000. In contrast, the entire fund had less than $100,000 at that time.
The Commission's complaint also alleges that defendant Nadel recently transferred at least $1.25 million from two of the funds to secret bank accounts that he controlled.
The complaint charges Nadel, Scoop Capital, LLC and Scoop Management, Inc. with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and seeking a temporary restraining order, an asset freeze, and preliminary injunction against Nadel and preliminary injunctions and asset freezes against Scoop Capital and Scoop Management. In addition, the complaint seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, and civil money penalties against all the defendants. Without admitting or denying the allegations of the complaint, defendants Scoop Capital and Scoop Management consented to the entry of, among other things, preliminary injunctions, asset freezes, and the appointment of a Receiver.
The complaint also names as relief defendants two investment management companies, Valhalla Management, Inc. and Viking Management, LLC, and the six Funds, Scoop Real Estate, L.P., Valhalla Investment Partners, L.P., Victory IRA Fund, Ltd., Victory Fund, Ltd, Viking IRA Fund, LLC, and Viking Fund, LLC. The complaint seeks disgorgement plus prejudgment interest against each of the relief defendants. Without admitting or denying the allegations of the complaint, the relief defendants consented to asset freezes and the appointment of a Receiver.
Also on January 21, United States District Judge Richard A. Lazzara granted all of the emergency relief requested by the SEC and appointed a Receiver.
The SEC's investigation is continuing.
