{"id":85968,"date":"2023-09-22T01:07:39","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T05:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hedgeco.net\/news\/?p=85968"},"modified":"2023-09-22T00:52:11","modified_gmt":"2023-09-22T04:52:11","slug":"sec-cracks-alleged-ponzi-scheme-generating-over-15m-from-over-450-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/09\/2023\/sec-cracks-alleged-ponzi-scheme-generating-over-15m-from-over-450-investors.html","title":{"rendered":"SEC Cracks Alleged Ponzi Scheme Generating over $15m from over 450 investors"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Mexico-based company <strong>Aras Investment Business Group<\/strong> S.A.P.I. de C.V., its CEO Armando Gutierrez Rosas, and four individuals for fraudulently raising at least <strong>$15 million<\/strong> from more than 450 retail investors in the U.S., most of whom were members of the Mexican American community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SEC\u2019s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, alleges that, from about March 2020 through November 2021, Gutierrez raised money from retail investors in the U.S. for the purported purpose of investing in U.S. real estate and mining operations in Mexico, promising investors monthly returns as high as 10 percent. According to the complaint, no U.S. investor funds were used for investment purposes; instead, Gutierrez was operating a Ponzi scheme and affinity fraud and used investor funds to pay for his personal expenses including a <strong>$2.5 million <\/strong>mansion in Texas. Along with Gutierrez, the SEC also charged Efren Quiroz, Luis Quiroz, Maria Tolentino, and Diayanira Rendon for their roles in the alleged fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>\u201cOur investigation uncovered this egregious fraud that cost the investors involved more than $6 million,\u201d said Melissa R. Hodgman, Associate Director in the SEC\u2019s Division of Enforcement. \u201cWe are committed to holding promoters of these types of affinity frauds accountable.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The SEC\u2019s complaint charges Gutierrez and Aras with violating the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws; charges Efren and Luis Quiroz with acting as unregistered brokers and, along with Tolentino, with violating the registration provisions and aiding and abetting Gutierrez\u2019s and Aras\u2019s violations of the antifraud provisions; it also charges Rendon with aiding and abetting Gutierrez\u2019 and Aras\u2019 violations of the antifraud provisions. The SEC\u2019s complaint seeks permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and disgorgement with prejudgment interest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, Efren and Luis Quiroz, Tolentino, and Rendon consented to the entry of judgments against them as to all claims, including full injunctive relief against future violations, with disgorgement and penalties to be determined by the court upon motion by the Commission. The settlements are subject to court approval. Efren and Luis Quiroz also consented to settled Commission orders barring each of them from association with a registered entity or participation in a penny stock offering.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Mexico-based company Aras Investment Business Group S.A.P.I. de C.V., its CEO Armando Gutierrez Rosas, and four individuals for fraudulently raising at least $15 million from more than 450 retail investors [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3,16048,16047,16036],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hedgeco-networks-press-releases","category-hedgeco-news","category-hedgecovest-news","category-insider-trading-2","category-live-blogging"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85969,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85968\/revisions\/85969"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hedgeco.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}