(HedgeCo.Net) The SEC has charged California-based Legendary Partners, LLC and its founder and President Scott L. Snyder with conducting a nationwide offering fraud that raised approximately $391,000 from April 2018 to December 2021.

According to the Complaint, the offering was pitched as an opportunity to invest in a start-up company that purportedly would produce a reality-television series about the refurbishment of damaged exotic and luxury vehicles. According to the Complaint, Legendary Partners and Snyder solicited investors using “cold callers”-including Snyder who nearly always concealed his true identity when interacting with investors by using the alias “Bill Miller”-located in Orange County, California. The SEC alleged that the cold callers would contact the mostly elderly investors by phone and routinely provide baseless and misleading profit projections designed to entice investors.

The SEC alleged that Snyder also intentionally misdirected money to Legendary Partners from several other investors who intended to invest in different and unrelated offerings. According to the Complaint, instead of investing the money as promised, Snyder instead tricked these investors into depositing their money into accounts controlled by Legendary Partners. The SEC alleges that this money was then misappropriated by Legendary Partners and Snyder.

The SEC also filed and sought court approval for a settlement. Legendary Partners and Snyder consented to the entry of a final judgment that would permanently enjoin them from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, prohibit Snyder from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security (provided, however, that such injunction would not prevent him from purchasing or selling securities for his own personal account), and impose an officer-and-director bar against Snyder.

The final judgment, if approved by the court, would hold Snyder liable for payment of $42,636 in disgorgement plus $9,956 in prejudgment interest, as well as a $50,000 civil penalty. In addition, the final judgment, if approved by the court, would order Legendary Partners to pay $184,706 in disgorgement plus $43,130 in prejudgment interest, as well as a $184,706 civil penalty.