Himanshu Jindal a/k/a Manish Jindal

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 26665 / October 7, 2026

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Himanshu Jindal a/k/a Manish Jindal, No. 1:26-cv-03476 (D.D.C. filed Oct. 5, 2026)

SEC Charges Resident of India With Fraud for Providing Phony Audit Report to U.S. Issuer

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced yesterday that it filed charges against Himanshu Jindal (a/k/a Manish Jindal), a citizen of India who resides in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, for allegedly engaging in a deceptive scheme to obtain audit work in the United States by falsely representing himself as a U.S. certified public accountant (CPA) associated with an audit firm registered with the U.S. Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and by providing a publicly-traded company with a phony audit report for inclusion in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC and relied on by investors.

The SEC’s complaint alleges that despite having no accounting or auditing qualifications in the United States or elsewhere, Jindal misrepresented himself on an online freelance job platform as a U.S. CPA. The complaint further alleges that around August 2023, Jindal responded to an online job posting on behalf of a publicly-traded issuer that sought a PCAOB-registered auditor to conduct an audit of its financial statements for its upcoming Form 10-K annual report by falsely representing that he was a licensed U.S. CPA and PCAOB-registered auditor. As alleged, Jindal provided the issuer with a fraudulent and unauthorized audit engagement letter purporting to be from a New York-based accounting firm with a forged signature of that firm’s principal, and Jindal misrepresented himself to the issuer as associated with the New York-based accounting firm. The complaint alleges that, in fact, Jindal never had any association or contact with that accounting firm or its principal. As alleged, Jindal then provided the issuer with a fake audit report for inclusion in the issuer’s Form 10-K annual report, which represented that the New York-based audit firm had conducted the audit in accordance with PCAOB standards and opined that the financial statements were fairly stated in all material respects. The complaint further alleges Jindal obtained payment from the issuer for the audit by directing payment to a company Jindal controls, Helponic Global Private Limited, and that Jindal has continued to misrepresent himself and to seek U.S. audit or accounting work through that company and through a Wyoming entity he controls called Helponic Global LLC.

The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, charges Jindal with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and with aiding and abetting the issuer’s violation of the reporting provisions Section 13(a) and Rule 13a-1. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, a conduct-based injunction, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and a civil penalty.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Laura Yeu and Michael H. DiTrapani, and supervised by Wendy B. Tepperman and Sheldon Pollock, all of the New York Regional Office. The litigation will be led by Travis Hill, and supervised by Jack Kaufman. The SEC acknowledges the assistance and cooperation of the Securities and Exchange Board of India and the Alberta Securities Commission.