SEC Obtains Emergency Asset Freeze, Charges Pennsylvania Investment Adviser with $100 Million Fraud

The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged a Pennsylvania investment adviser with operating an investment advisory fraud involving over $100 million in investments. The SEC also obtained an emergency asset freeze. The SEC's complaint alleges that Brenda Smith, and her fund Broad Reach Capital, LP, raised approximately $105 million from approximately 40 investors by representing that she would invest their money in publicly traded securities through various trading strategies that she championed as providing consistent high returns. However, Smith made very few investments in these trading strategies, and instead largely used investors' money to repay other investors and for her own personal investments.