Litigation Release No. 24558 / August 12, 2019
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Richard G. Duncan, No. 1:19-CV-11735 (D. Mass. filed (August 12, 2019)
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed an enforcement action on August 12, 2019 in federal court in Springfield, Massachusetts, charging investment adviser Richard G. Duncan, a resident of East Longmeadow, Massachusetts, with defrauding two advisory clients who were retail investors by persuading them to invest over $300,000 in an apparent scam originating in Turkey.
According to the Commission’s complaint, Duncan violated his fiduciary duty as an investment adviser by ignoring, and failing to disclose, warnings from two banks that the Turkish investment opportunity was probably a scam. Duncan also made materially false and misleading statements to at least one client, promising as much as a 100% return on the Turkish investment.
The Commission’s complaint alleges that Duncan violated the antifraud provisions of Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, and seeks permanent injunctions, civil penalties, and disgorgement plus prejudgment interest against Duncan.
The Commission’s case is being handled by Susan Cooke Anderson, Frank Huntington, John McCann, and Michele T. Perillo of the Boston Regional Office, with assistance from Kamran Beikmohamadi, John Kachmor, Josh Grinspoon, and Melissa Clough of the Office of Compliance, Inspections and Examinations in the Boston office, who conducted a related examination.