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SEC Charges Colorado Advisor With Fraud and Breach of Fiduciary Duty

By Marlene Y. Satter

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Neal Greenberg, an investment advisor based in Boulder, Colorado, was charged Tuesday, September 7, with fraud and the breach of fiduciary duty by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Donald Hoerl, director of the SEC’s regional office in Denver, said in a statement, “Greenberg misrepresented the diversification, risks and fees involved with investing in the Agile hedge funds to conservative investors who were dependent upon their investment income for some or all of their living expenses.”

Greenberg’s firm’s Agile hedge funds used leverage and concentrated in a small number of investments, rendering them inappropriate for older investors, many of whom were elderly or who were retired or nearing retirement.

Greenberg is said to have represented the funds as having liquidity, minimal risk, and wide diversification.

In addition, Greenberg’s funds are alleged by the SEC “to have improperly collected approximately $2 million in management and performance fees that were not adequately disclosed to investors.”