SEC Charged CEO of Simran Capital Mangement with Defrauding CalPERS and Other Clients

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), announced recently that they charged the CEO of Chicago-based investment advisory firm Simran Capital Management with lying to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (CalPERS) and other current and potential clients about the amount of money managed by the firm.

On the SEC website it was reported that institutional investors such as CalPERS often use assets under management (AUM) as a metric to screen prospective investment advisers soliciting their business. In an SEC investigation it was revealed that while pitching Simran's services, Umesh Tandon falsely certified to CalPERS that his firm satisfied its minimum AUM requirements. After fraudulently obtaining the business from CalPERS, Tandon also falsely inflated Simran's AUM in communications with other potential clients with whom he decribed his firm's relationship with CalPERS. Tandon also fraudulently reported an inflated AUM in filings with the SEC, and later attempted to mislead SEC examiners during a routine examination of Simran. Tandon now resides in Texas, and has agreed to settle the SEC's fraud charges.

"Tandon deliberately undermined the CalPERS screening process by grossly misrepresenting his firm's purported assets under management," said Merri Jo Gillette, Director of the SEC's Chicago Regional Office. "To make matters worse, he then used his association with CalPERS to lure other public institutional investors under false pretenses."

According to the SEC's order, Tandon touted Simran's relationship with CalPERS to other prospective clients from 2008 to 2011, and he instructed other Simran employees to do the same. Often Tandon and Simran employees falsely inflated the firm's AUM in communications with employee retirement systems and other prospective clients. Tandon and Simran overstated the AUM in at least four of the firm's Form ADVs filed with the SEC. In February 2012, Simran withdrew its SEC registration as an investment adviser and has since ceased operations.

If you have experienced a financial loss due to Umesh Tandon of Simran Capital Management, call Soreide Law Group for a free consultation with an attorney on how to potentially recovery your investment at: 888-760-6552.