U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 23946 / September 28, 2017
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Naris Chamroonrat, et al., No. 16-cv-09403-KM-JBC (D.N.J.)
Court Enters Final Judgment Against Operator of Fake Day-Trading Firm
The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained a final judgment against one of the operators of a phony day-trading firm whom the agency charged with pocketing more than $1.4 million in deposits from hundreds of defrauded investors worldwide.
The final judgment, entered on September 18, 2017 by the Honorable Kevin McNulty of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, permanently enjoins Naris Chamroonrat, of Bangkok, Thailand, from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Sections 10(b), 15(a)(1) and 20(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and orders him liable for disgorgement of $918,147.31, plus interest of $71,549.24, the payment of which is deemed satisfied by the restitution ordered in the parallel criminal case. Chamroonrat, who pled guilty in a parallel criminal case, is awaiting sentencing.
The SEC’s amended complaint alleges that Chamroonrat and others lured investors to day-trade through Nonko Trading, an unregistered brokerage firm, with promises of generous leverage, low trading commissions, and low minimum deposit requirements when, in fact, investor money was instead used to fund defendants’ personal expenses, pay associates, and make Ponzi-like payments to investors who asked to close their accounts. The SEC encourages investors to check the backgrounds of people selling investments by using the SEC’s investor.gov website to quickly identify whether they are registered professionals and confirm their identity.
The SEC’s continuing investigation is being conducted by Simona Suh, Barry O’Connell, and John Marino of the SEC’s Market Abuse Unit and by Elzbieta Wraga of the New York Regional Office. The case has been supervised by Joseph G. Sansone, Chief of the Market Abuse Unit. The SEC’s litigation is led by Ms. Suh and Mr. O’Connell. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Securities Commission of The Bahamas, Financial Supervisory Commission of the Cook Islands, Israel Securities Authority, Financial Services Commission’s Nevis Branch, Ontario Securities Commission, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Securities and Exchange Commission of Thailand.
https://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2017/lr23946.htm