SEC says Colorado RIA lied about experience and past performance
Michael Moses falsely claimed 24% returns, and lost most of clients' money.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Moses Investment Co. and its owner, Michael Moses, with fraud for lying numerous times to investors while raising money for a proprietary hedge fund.
From approximately November 2013 to April 2014, the SEC’s complaint alleges that Mr. Moses and his Greenwood Village, Colo.-based RIA firm raised approximately $1 million for the private fund they managed, WAKE Fund by touting Mr. Moses’ past experience as a trader or portfolio manager with large private fund advisers.
The SEC alleges that Mr. Moses and his firm claimed that Mr. Moses was a portfolio manager in 2007 for a $750 million global macro fund, highlighting his 24% trading return achieved during the financial crisis in 2008, and repeatedly represented that the strategy Mr. Moses would employ in the WAKE Fund was safe and involved limited downside risk.
In reality, the SEC alleges that Mr. Moses had very limited fund portfolio management experience, lied about his investment returns, and employed a significantly risky investment strategy that he didn’t disclose to investors, which resulted in the near-total loss of the fund’s assets.
The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions against the adviser and his firm, disgorgement plus interest, and civil penalties.
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