FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
2022-119
The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced fraud charges against Empires Consulting Corp. (EmpiresX), its founders Emerson Sousa Pires and Flavio Mendes Goncalves, and its head trader Joshua David Nicholas, for a scheme that allegedly raised at least $40 million by luring investors with false claims of one percent daily profits, but instead misappropriated large sums of investors' money for personal uses.
According to the SEC's complaint, since at least late 2020, EmpiresX, based in South Florida, sold investments touting daily profits of one percent earned by a trading "bot" or Nicholas' manual trading. The complaint alleges that, in reality, the bot was fake, Nicholas' trading resulted in significant losses, and the defendants only transferred a small portion of investors' funds to EmpiresX's brokerage account. Instead, the defendants allegedly misappropriated large sums of investors' money to lease a Lamborghini, shop at Tiffany & Co., make a payment on a second home, and more.
To assure investors of the safety of their investments, the defendants allegedly falsely told investors that EmpiresX had filed paperwork with the SEC to register as a hedge fund. Defendants also allegedly touted Nicholas as a licensed trader while concealing he was suspended by the National Futures Association from trading for misappropriating customer funds. The...
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