US SEC charges 38 entities for posing as US investment advisors through false filings.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced it has filed lawsuits against 38 entities, accusing them of making material false statements in their Form ADV submissions between 2025 and 2026, attempting to pass themselves off as legitimate U.S. investment advisory firms to gain retail investors’ trust and conduct fraudulent inducement. The SEC said these entities are suspected of fabricating office addresses, providing invalid phone numbers or those linked to unrelated companies, and using highly similar ownership structures and financial data. Some entities also claimed their managed private funds had been audited by accounting firms, but the relevant firms could not be found in U.S. federal or state public accounting agency registries. Additionally, some firms displayed forged SEC registration certificates on their websites to create the illusion of being regulated. The SEC noted that some of the involved entities accessed the SEC’s filing system via overseas IP addresses and refused to provide relevant records to verify the authenticity of their filings. Currently, the ERA filings of the 38 involved entities have been removed from the SEC’s official website. The SEC is charging these entities with violating relevant provisions of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and is seeking penalties including permanent injunctions, barring them from continuing to submit Form ADV as exempt reporting advisors, and civil monetary fines.