Scammers Used Fake SEC Filings to Pose as Legitimate Advisers

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The Securities and Exchange Commission charged 38 entities in a Colorado federal court with filing fraudulent Form ADVs — the registration documents investment advisers must submit to the SEC — to falsely present themselves as legitimate advisory firms to U.S. retail investors. The firms listed Colorado addresses where they had no presence, provided disconnected or unrelated phone numbers, and claimed their fund financials had been audited by accounting firms that do not appear in any public registry. The SEC, working with the FBI's Operation Level Up, has removed all 38 firms from its public adviser database.

The SEC's Office of Investor Education and Assistance issued an investor alert warning that scammers are increasingly exploiting SEC exempt-reporting adviser (ERA) filings — a lighter-touch registration category — to create a false appearance of regulatory legitimacy. Investors checking an adviser's credentials on the SEC's website should verify that address, phone number, and auditor details are independently verifiable before sending any money.