The principal of GLR Advisors, LLC, pled guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and was barred from the industry for making misleading statements to investors including claims that its funds were "SEC approved."
According to the SEC's complaint, since at least 2005, John Geringer raised in excess of $60 million from investors by misrepresenting the performance and strategy of a private investment fund, the GLR Growth Fund L.P., based in Scotts Valley, California, and used false and misleading marketing materials claiming that the fund has returned between 17% and 25% in every year of its operation through investments tied to well-known stock indexes such as the S&P 500, Nasdaq and Dow Jones, as well as in oil, natural gas and technology-related companies.
However, the vast majority of money raised went to two illiquid private companies, to pay back other investors, and to three entities Geringer controlled. To the extent Geringer engaged in actual securities trading, far from generating high annual returns, he consistently lost money, the SEC complaint says.
Geringer is the sole member of GLR Advisors LLC, which was registered as an investment advisor with the state of California from 2003 to 2013. Geringer, 50, is a resident of Santa Cruz, California.
