SEC Accuses Private Equity Manager of $9M Securities Fraud

The SEC says that Camelot Acquisitions Secondary Opportunities Management and owner Lawrence E. Penn III of stealing $9 million from a private equity fund. Also named in the securities fraud complaint are Altura Ewers and three entities, two of which are Camelot entities owned by Penn.

The regulator says that Penn, a private equity manager, reached out to overseas investors, public pension funds, and high net worth individuals to raise funds for Camelot Acquisitions Secondary Opportunities LP, a private equity fund that invests in companies that want to become public entities. He was able to get about $120 million of capital commitments.

According to the Commission, Penn paid over $9.3 million of the money to Ssecurion, a company owned by Ewer, as fake fees/ The two of them purportedly misled auditors about the fees that were supposedly related to due diligence, even forging documents up to as recently as last year.

The SEC is charging Penn, Ewers, Ssecurion, and Camelot entities with violating federal securities laws’ provisions related to records and books, antifraud, and registration applications. The regulator wants disgorgement of ill-gotten gains plus interest, payment of penalties, and a bar from violating the securities laws’ antifraud provisions ever again.

At the SSEK Partners Group, our securities lawyers represent high net worth clients and overseas investors with securities claims and financial fraud lawsuits against financial firms that are based in the US. Contact our private equity fund law firm today. Working with an experienced institutional investment fraud law firm can increase your chances of recovering everything that you are owed. Our securities attorneys have helped thousands of clients recoup their losses.

SEC Charges Manhattan-Based Private Equity Manager With Stealing $9 Million in Investor Funds, SEC, January 30, 2014

Read the SEC Complaint (PDF)

New York private equity manager, firm charged with $9 million theft, Reuters/Yahoo, January 30, 2014

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