WASHINGTON (CN) - The two founders of a hedge fund, Juno Mother Earth Asset Management, "looted $1.8 million" from it and "issued promissory notes to conceal a substantial portion of their misappropriation," the SEC says. It sued Juno, Eugenio Verzili and Arturo Rodriguez on Tuesday in Federal Court.
"This action concerns defendants' multi-faceted scheme to defraud a hedge fund under their control, as well as the investors in the fund, and the defendants' failure to comply with their fiduciary obligations to the hedge fund," according to the 23-page complaint.
"From at least 2007 to the present, Juno, Verzili and Rodriguez: (a) misappropriated approximately $1.8 million of assets from a Juno advised hedge fund; (b) fraudulently concealed their misappropriation from the fund's independent directors; (c) inflated and misrepresented Juno's assets under management ('AUM') by approximately $40 million; (d) filed false Forms ADV with the Commission that, among other things, failed to disclose transactions between Juno and the hedge fund; (e) concealed Juno's precarious financial condition; and (f) misrepresented the amount of capital certain Juno partners had invested in a Juno-advised fund."
Juno registered with the SEC as an investment adviser in 2007. A Delaware LLC, it was based in New York City.
Rodriguez, 47, lives in Costa Rica; Verzili, 44, in Miami Beach.
"In various documents (such as Part II of Juno's Form ADV dated July 25, 2008), Verzili falsely claimed that he attended Boston University. In fact, he never attended any school associated with Boston University," the SEC says.
It seeks disgorgement, an injunction and penalties.
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