SEC Charges Recidivist and Others in Offering Fraud Scheme
Lit. Release No. 25804 / August 7, 2023
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Christopher A. Slaga a/k/a Keith Renko, Q4 Capital, LLC, J4 Capital Advisors LLC, and Hayden F. Greene, No. 8:23-cv-01425 (C.D. Cal. filed August 7, 2023)
The Securities and Exchange Commission filed today a complaint in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California charging Christopher Slaga and two entities he controlled, Q4 Capital, LLC and J4 Capital Advisors LLC, with defrauding investors through an offering of interests in purported private investment funds. Slaga received approximately $3.5 million in proceeds from the fraudulent scheme. The SEC also charged Hayden F. Greene for acting as an unregistered broker.
The SEC’s complaint alleges that Slaga, a recidivist, operated his fraudulent scheme under the alias “Keith Renko.” According to the complaint, Slaga, through the entities he controlled and posing as Renko, marketed and sold interests in three private investment funds that he managed. Slaga represented to investors that he would use their funds to execute certain securities trading strategies. The SEC alleges that, in reality, Slaga never formed the investment funds, did not trade securities on behalf of the investment funds, and misused the vast majority of investor money for personal expenses. Moreover, as alleged in the complaint, to conceal his fraud, Slaga forged documents that purported to reflect that the investment funds had brokerage accounts at a major firm, were audited by a Big Four auditor, and were profitable. The complaint alleges, however, that the funds did not have brokerage accounts, were not audited by any firm, and were not profitable.
The SEC’s complaint charges Slaga, Q4 Capital, LLC, and J4 Capital Advisors LLC with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (Exchange Act) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (Securities Act), and the securities-registration provisions of Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act. The SEC’s complaint also charges Greene with violating the broker-registration provisions of Section 15(a) of the Exchange Act for acting as an unregistered broker. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, an officer-and-director bar (as to Slaga only), disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties (except as to Greene). Greene has agreed to consent to the entry of a final judgment against him that addresses all of the charges and relief sought by the SEC, and his settlement is subject to court approval.
The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Melanie K. Good and supervised by Nikolay V. Vydashenko and Eric R. Werner of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office. The SEC’s litigation is being conducted by Jason P. Reinsch and supervised by B. David Fraser. The SEC appreciates the assistance from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.