The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a proposed consent judgment that is set to resolve its case against Savraj Gata-Aura and Core Agents, Ltd, co-conspirators of Ponzi scammer Renwick Haddow.
As FX News Group has reported, the Commission has been working on a settlement with the defendants for a while. On June 21, 2021, the details of the settlement were published.
According to the proposed judgment, the defendants are jointly and severally liable for disgorgement of $2,988,225.00, representing profits gained as a result of the conduct alleged in the SEC’s Complaint, together with prejudgment interest thereon in the amount of $721,520.62, for a total of $3,709,745.62.
The defendants’ $3,709,745.62 payment obligation shall be offset by an amount equal to the Order of Restitution entered against Aura in the amount of $39,972,000 and an additional $2,988,225 in forfeiture entered against Aura in the criminal case before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In May 2019, the SEC charged Savraj Gata-Aura and a company he controls, Core Agents Ltd., with aiding and abetting an investment scheme that defrauded investors of more than $30 million.
The SEC alleges that Gata-Aura recruited a network of sales agents to sell fraudulent investments in co-working spaces Bar Works, Inc. and Bar Works 7th Avenue, Inc. using false and misleading offering materials. The materials touted the background of Bar Works’ purported CEO, “Jonathan Black,” and omitted any mention of Renwick Haddow, the actual individual controlling the entities.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Gata-Aura knew that “Black” was a fictitious name for a person who did not exist, that Haddow secretly ran the Bar Works companies, and that Haddow had previously been sued in the United Kingdom by the U.K. Financial Conduct Authority for an unrelated investment scheme.
The complaint further alleges that from September 2015 to June 2017, Gata-Aura and Core Agents raised over $10 million from at least 100 investors for the fraudulent investments. As alleged, in return for their role in selling the fraudulent investments, Gata-Aura and Core Agents received commissions that totaled at least $2.9 million from Haddow and the Bar Works companies.
