The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has received official decisions against Empires Consulting Corp. (EmpiresX) and its creators Emerson Sousa Pires and Flavio Mendes Goncalves. The SEC accused them of engaging in a fraudulent trading plan.
In June 2022, the SEC filed a complaint stating that Pires and Goncalves ran a hedge fund called EmpiresX. Since late 2020, EmpiresX sold investment opportunities claiming to offer a one percent daily profit through a trading “bot” or manual trading.
However, the complaint argues that the bot was not real, manual trading led to substantial losses, and the defendants only transferred a small portion of investors’ funds to EmpiresX’s brokerage account.
However, the accused individuals supposedly used a significant amount of the investors’ funds for personal expenses such as:
- Renting a luxury car.
- Shopping at a high-end jewelry store.
- Paying for a second home
- Covering other personal costs.
The ruling against Pires and Goncalves, made because they did not respond or appear in court, prohibits them from breaking certain securities laws. They are not allowed to deceive or manipulate others when it comes to securities and investments. They are also permanently prohibited from asking new people to invest or accepting more money from current investors. Additionally, they cannot engage in activities related to buying or selling securities, except for their own personal accounts.
Furthermore, Pires and Goncalves are prohibited from serving as executives or managers of a publicly traded company. The court ruling mandates that Pires and Goncalves jointly and individually repay $32,179,070, along with an additional $2,661,610 in interest prior to the court’s decision. Additionally, Pires is required to pay a penalty of $6,000,000, while Goncalves must pay a penalty of $5,000,000.
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