Dozens of firms made false regulatory filings to dupe retail investors by posing as legitimate advisory firms, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) alleged in a series of enforcement cases.
The SEC charged 38 firms, many of which appear to be offshore, for allegedly making false filings between 2025 and 2026 that, the regulator said, were designed to falsely portray themselves as genuine advisory firms.
According to the complaints, which were filed in U.S. district court in Colorado, the filings listed false addresses and phone numbers, reported purported ownership structures and metrics (such as client numbers and assets under management) that were nearly identical to various other suspicious filings, and falsely reported that the private funds they claimed to advise were audited by non-existent accounting firms.
The complaints also allege that certain firms made false claims on their websites about being registered with the SEC.
“Our complaints allege large-scale abuse of SEC adviser filings by persons, several of whom are likely located overseas, exploiting interest in emerging technologies,” said Laura D’Allaird, chief of the SEC enforcement division’s cyber and emerging technologies unit, in a release.
The list of firms charged by the SEC include Abrdn Canada Ltd., CryptoOrbit Ltd., LinkedIn Research Institute Ltd., Robin Markets Inc., and Web3 University. None of the allegations have been proven.
In its complaints, the SEC is seeking permanent...
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