U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 25942 / February 14, 2024
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Dapilinu Dunbar and Corrie Sampson, No. 4:23-MC-21-P (N.D. Tex. filed Dec. 13, 2023)
SEC Obtains Court Order to Enforce Investigative Subpoenas Against Two Top-Level Promoters of the NovaTech Crypto Asset Investment Program
The Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) today announced that, on February 13, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted the SEC’s application to enforce a subpoena for production of documents issued to Dapilinu Dunbar and a subpoena for production of documents and testimony issued to Corrie Sampson. According to the SEC’s application, Dunbar and Sampson are high-ranking promoters of a crypto asset investment program marketed under the name “NovaTech.”
If a person or entity refuses to comply with a subpoena issued by SEC enforcement staff pursuant to a formal order of investigation, the Commission may file a subpoena enforcement action in federal district court seeking an order compelling compliance.
According to the SEC’s filing, the SEC is investigating whether certain persons, including Dunbar and Sampson, violated the federal securities laws in connection with the offers and sales of interests in NovaTech, a purported crypto asset investment program marketed to individual investors in the United States and worldwide. As set forth in the SEC’s filing, NovaTech uses a multilevel marketing program to recruit investors into its program, and Dunbar and Sampson achieved the second highest and highest ranking, respectively, within the NovaTech multilevel marketing program.
According to the filing, the SEC staff served both Dunbar and Sampson with an investigative subpoena requiring production of certain documents and compelling their testimony. According to the filing, however, despite numerous attempts to secure compliance with the subpoenas, Dunbar failed to produce certain documents in his custody, possession, or control responsive to the subpoena and Sampson failed to produce any documents and to appear for testimony.
The SEC’s application sought a court order directing Dunbar and Sampson to comply fully with the subpoenas. The court granted the SEC’s application and ordered Dunbar and Sampson to produce documents responsive to the Commission’s subpoena and ordered Sampson to appear for testimony. The SEC is continuing its fact-finding investigation and, to date, has not concluded that any individual or entity has violated the federal securities laws.
The SEC’s investigation is being conducted by Catherine Rowsey, Todd Baker, and Jamie Haussecker of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, under the supervision of Nikolay V. Vydashenko and B. David Fraser. Patrick B. Disbennett and Matthew Gulde litigated the subpoena enforcement action.