On May 26, 2017, the Commission issued the Order settling previously instituted cease-and-desist proceedings against the Respondent. In the Order, the Commission found that from January 2011 through April 2014, the Respondent, a former registered investment adviser to the Oracle Mutual Fund (the “Oracle Fund”), (a) fraudulently allocated profitable trades to his own accounts to the detriment of several investors’ accounts (“Cherry-Picking”); (b) falsely told investors that they would not pay both advisory fees and management fees for the portions of their accounts invested in the Oracle Fund (“Misrepresentation”); and (c) made trades for the Oracle Fund that deviated from two of the Oracle Fund’s fundamental investment limitations.

As a result of the conduct described in the Order, the Commission ordered the Respondent to pay disgorgement of $489,921 plus prejudgment interest of $10,079, and a civil penalty of $50,000, for a total of $550,000 to the Commission. Payments were to be made in installments over a three-year period. In the Order, the Commission established a Fair Fund, pursuant to Section 308(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, so the civil penalties paid, along with the disgorgement and prejudgment interest paid, can be distributed to harmed investors (the “Fair Fund”). The Respondent has paid in full. The Fair Fund has been deposited at the United States Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (“BFS”) for investment.