The US Securities and Exchange Commission has come to the rescue of investors who clearly did not go to its website at www.investor.gov to find out whether a stock offering was regulated or not.

The SEC is pressing fraud charges against Daniel Nase, whom it accuses of of stealing investors' assets and then trying to cover his tracks once he knew that it was investigating him. He allegedly raised money from investors through an unregistered offering of common stock in his company, BIC Real Estate Development Corp, and used the funds for personal expenses. According to the SEC’s complaint (filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of California) he told investors that BIC would invest in real estate and promissory notes. With money he used to purchase real estate and notes, he improperly "titled" most of the properties in his name or his wife’s name or the name of their family trust, rather than BIC. He apparently used some investors' funds to pay for clothing, holidays, student loans and other personal expenses, then tried to cover up his theft after learning of the SEC’s investigation by investing stolen assets back into the company to make it appear that he was increasing his equity stake in it.

Nase was not registered with the SEC or any state regulator to sell investments. Investors can check whether people selling investments are registered by using the SEC’s investor.gov website - a quick and easy process. The SEC’s complaint charges Nase and BIC with breaking federal anti-fraud laws and rules and securities registration provisions. The complaint seeks emergency relief in the form of a temporary restraining order, an asset-freeze and a preliminary injunction. It also seeks the return of allegedly ill-gotten gains along with interest, penalties and permanent injunctions and other relief against Nase and BIC.