SEC Obtains Emergency Relief To Halt Nearly $130 Million Fraud Targeting Indian American Community

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced that it obtained a temporary restraining order, asset freeze, and other emergency relief to halt an ongoing fraud targeting the Indian American community that has raised nearly $130 million since April 2021. The fraud is allegedly being conducted by Nanban Ventures LLC, its three founders Gopala Krishnan (aka GK), Manivannan Shanmugam, and Sakthivel Palani Gounder (collectively, Founders), and three other entities that the Founders control. The SEC’s complaint, unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleges that the defendants raised more than $89 million from more than 350 investors for investments in purported venture capital funds that the Founders managed through Nanban Ventures LLC and more than $39 million from 10 investors that invested directly in the three other entities controlled by the Founders.