Marco G. Santarelli

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 26420 / November 19, 2025

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Marco G. Santarelli, No. 8:25-cv-02375 (C.D. Cal. filed Oct. 20, 2025)

SEC Charges California Man in Fraudulent Multi-Million-Dollar Investment Scheme

On October 20, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Marco G. Santarelli, a resident of Laguna Niguel, California for running a multi-million-dollar investment scheme that defrauded hundreds of investors nationwide.  

The SEC’s complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that, from at least June 2020 to June 2024, Santarelli, through his company Norada Capital Management, LLC, raised tens of millions of dollars through the sale of unsecured, high-yield promissory notes that Santarelli falsely described as having “strong capital preservation potential.”  In reality, Norada’s investments were volatile and speculative, and by August 2023, the SEC alleges that Santarelli and Norada could no longer satisfy the returns they had promised to investors, and began making Ponzi-like payments in which investor returns were paid using funds obtained from new investors.  The SEC alleges that in June 2024, Santarelli notified investors that Norada was suspending distribution payments to investors, and ceased operations by early 2025. 

Santarelli, without denying the allegations contained in the SEC’s complaint, consented to the entry of a final judgment permanently enjoining him from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and the antifraud and registration provisions of Sections 5(a), 5(c), and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, imposing a conduct-based injunction, and ordering him to pay a penalty, disgorgement and prejudgment interest with amounts to be determined upon motion of the SEC.

In a parallel action, Santarelli pled guilty to criminal charges brought by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.  

The SEC’s investigation was supervised by Assistant Regional Director Marc J. Blau with assistance from trial counsel Kathryn C. Wanner, both of the Los Angeles Regional Office.