SEC Charges Real Estate Company and Executives With Defrauding Retail Investors, Obtains Emergency Relief

The Securities and Exchange Commission today announced an emergency enforcement action and a temporary restraining order and asset freeze against Florida-based private real estate firm EquiAlt LLC, its CEO Brian Davison, and its Managing Director Barry Rybicki, in connection with an allegedly fraudulent unregistered securities offering that raised more than $170 million from at least 1,100 investors, a number of whom invested their retirement funds. According to the SEC’s complaint, unsealed Feb. 14, 2020, in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, EquiAlt, Davison, Rybicki, and the entities they control, fraudulently raised millions of dollars by making material misrepresentations to investors about EquiAlt’s investment strategy, the financial condition of the investments, and the uses of investor proceeds.