U.S. financial regulators charged the founders of a $12.9 million (7.4 million pound) hedge fund with fraud on suspicions they stole roughly half of the money from roughly 80 investors to spend onthemselves.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it filed an emergency enforcement action charging that Robert Massimi and Bret Grebow, who founded HMC International, raised the $12.9 million through a “fraudulent offering of investments.” The government also charged the pair misappropriated more than $5.2 million for their own use.
The fund, based in Montvale, New Jersey, collapsed this fall when the pair could not return money to several investors who wanted to leave.
