Aequitas Financial

In March 2016, the SEC obtained a court order freezing the firm's assets and placing Aequitas under a receiver. The agency alleged that the firm and its executives defrauded investors by overstating asset values, misrepresenting the performance of its loan portfolio, and using new investor money to pay prior investors. The receivership was intended to recover assets for distribution to harmed investors (per SEC litigation release, March 2016).

Aequitas originated private-credit loans to middle-market companies, commercial and residential real-estate bridge loans, and specialty-finance receivables including consumer and small-business obligations. The firm pooled these assets into funds and note programs marketed primarily to individual accredited and non-accredited investors under Regulation A+ and Regulation D exemptions (per the firm's historical filings and SEC complaint, 2016).

CEO Bob Jesenik and President Brian Oliver co-founded the firm and led its investment and fundraising activities. The SEC's 2016 complaint named Jesenik, Oliver, and CFO Scott Gillis, alleging they orchestrated the overvaluation scheme and made material misstatements about the credit quality of the underlying loan pools (per SEC complaint, 2016).

The firm entered receivership in 2016 following the SEC enforcement action. A court-appointed receiver took control of the entity's assets and operations. The firm is not known to be originating new investments or accepting new capital under the Aequitas name.

Aequitas sold promissory notes and securities through private placements and registered offerings, including under Regulation A+, which allowed it to solicit investments from the general public. The firm marketed these notes as yield-oriented investments backed by pooled private-credit and specialty-finance assets. The SEC alleged that marketing materials misrepresented the risk and performance of the underlying loans (per SEC litigation release, 2016).