The SEC has charged Neil V. Moody and his son, Christopher D. Moody, with securities fraud today. The Moodys allegedly misled investors with regards to the returns and assets of three hedge funds that they managed: Valhalla Investment Partners L.P., Viking IRA Fund LLC, and Viking Fund LLC. They also misrepresented to investors that they were overseeing the management and trading of the hedge funds, when in fact they were being controlled by Arthur G. Nadel. Mr. Nadel and his Scoop Management hedge fund have been accused of defrauding investors of over $300 million.
According to the SEC, the Sarasota, Florida-based Moodys allegedly “distributed offering materials, account statements, and newsletters to investors that misrepresented the hedge funds' historical investment returns and overstated their asset values by as much as $160 million. The Moodys based their materials on grossly overstated performance numbers that Nadel created and provided to them. The Moodys failed to independently verify the accuracy of the figures despite multiple red flags, and relied exclusively on Nadel’s inaccurate information when communicating with investors.”
The SEC’s complaint further alleges that they “misled investors regarding their role in managing the assets of the three hedge funds by claiming that they controlled all of the investment and trading decisions. In truth, under an arrangement that the Moodys had with Nadel, he controlled nearly all of the funds’ investment and trading activities with no meaningful supervision or oversight by the Moodys.” |
