A dentist-turned-investment advisor and two of the entities he controlled allegedly engaged in "three separate securities frauds of escalating size," according to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In a complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, Charleston Division, the SEC charged Edgar M. Radjabli, 35, and two entities he controlled with engaging in three separate securities frauds of escalating size.
The defendants agreed to settle the charges against them, without admitting or denying the allegations in the complaint, the SEC said.
The settlement, which is subject to court approval, would require Radjabli to pay a total of $600,000 in monetary relief, comprising $162,800 in disgorgement, $17,870 in prejudgment interest and $419,330 in civil penalties, for which he and his two entities would be jointly and severally liable, according to the SEC.
The settlement would also permanently enjoin Radjabli and his entities from violating the charged provisions of federal securities laws, impose a conduct-based injunction and penny stock bar on Radjabli, and bar Radjabli from the securities industry, the SEC said.
The SEC alleged in its complaint that Radjabli, formerly a practicing dentist and an unregistered broker, and Apis Capital Management, an unregistered investment advisory firm he owned and controlled, conducted a fraudulent offering of Apis Tokens, a digital asset representing tokenized interests in Apis Capital's main investment fund.
Radjabli and Apis Capital issued a June 2018 press release falsely claiming that the Apis Token offering had raised $1.7 million when the offering had actually not raised any money, according to the SEC.
The SEC further alleged that Radjabli and Apis Capital manipulated the securities market for Veritone, a publicly traded artificial intelligence company, by announcing in December 2018 an unsolicited cash tender offer to buy Veritone for $200 million. In reality, Radjabli and Apis Capital did not have the financing or any reasonable prospect of obtaining the financing needed to complete the transaction, according to the SEC.
