Relief Defendant in Fraud Case Against Massachusetts Investment Adviser is Ordered to Pay Over $500,000

Litigation Release No. 24052 / February 16, 2018

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Daniel Thibeault, et al., No. 15-cv-10050-NMG (D. Mass. filed January 9, 2015)

On February 16, 2018, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts entered final judgment against relief defendant Shawnet Thibeault in an SEC enforcement action. The complaint, which the Commission filed in January 2015, charged investment adviser Daniel Thibeault and others with fraud for misappropriating money from an investment fund. The complaint named Mr. Thibeault's wife, Shawnet Thibeault, as a relief defendant. According to the complaint, she received some of the money that had been misappropriated from investors. The judgment entered against Shawnet Thibeault orders her to disgorge over $500,000.

According to the complaint, Mr. Thibeault misappropriated money from an investment fund that he was managing. Specifically, the SEC alleged that Mr. Thibeault and his companies were the investment advisers to the GL Beyond Income Fund, and that they misappropriated at least $15 million of the Fund's money. According to the complaint, Mr. Thibeault represented that investors' money would be pooled and used to make or purchase consumer loans. These consumer loans would then constitute the Fund's assets, and would provide a return to the investors when interest and principal payments were made on the loans. The complaint alleged that Mr. Thibeault and the other defendants (not including Shawnet Thibeault) engaged in a scheme to create fictitious loans to steal money from the Fund, and to report those fake loans as assets of the Fund. Mr. Thibeault and the other defendants designed this scheme to conceal their misappropriation of millions of dollars from the Fund.

The final judgment against Shawnet Thibeault orders her to pay disgorgement of $468,236, representing money she received as a result of the violations alleged in the Complaint, along with prejudgment interest of $49,826, for a total of $518,062. These funds will be added to the restitution fund in Daniel Thibeault's related criminal case, United States v. Daniel Thibeault, Crim. No. 15-cr-10031-LTS (D. Mass.), which is expected to be distributed to harmed investors by the United States Attorney's Office.

For further information, see Litigation Release Nos. 23718 (Jan. 12, 2017) [Final Judgment Against Defendant Entities]; 23654 (Sept. 26, 2016) [Final Judgment Against Thibeault]; 23573 (June 20, 2016) [Criminal Sentencing]; 23488 (Mar. 11, 2016) [Criminal Plea]; 23207 (Feb. 26, 2015) [Criminal Indictment]; 23178 (Jan. 22, 2015) [Entry of Asset Freeze]; 23171 (Jan. 9, 2015) [Civil Complaint].