George Heckler Charged by SEC for Fraud | Goodman & Nekvasil P.A. May Recover Investor Losses
he Securities and Exchange Commission charged George Heckler, of Charleston, South Carolina, for operating a decade-long investment adviser fraud through two private hedge funds, Cassatt Short Term Trading Fund LP (Cassatt) and CV Special Opportunity Fund LP (CV Special), that Heckler formed to conceal massive losses incurred by Conestoga Holdings LP (Conestoga), another fund controlled by Heckler.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Heckler, after forming Cassatt and CV Special, transferred Conestoga’s poorly performing assets to those funds and then misrepresented the funds’ objectives and performance to Cassatt and CV Special investors. The complaint alleges that, between 2009 and 2019, Heckler falsely told investors that their funds were being used to engage in very short-term equity trading and that the investments were consistently generating positive returns. In truth, according to the complaint, a substantial amount of investors’ funds had not been invested at all or had been used to make Ponzi-like payments to prior investors. According to the complaint, Heckler raised at least $90 million in new investor capital through Cassatt, CV Special, and three other entities he controlled, of which over $32 million was used to repay or redeem prior investors. In addition, the Commission alleges that Heckler took over $1 million for his personal use, and Cassatt and CV Special suffered significant losses as a result of poor investments by Heckler. Heckler also allegedly concealed these losses from investors by providing them with false account statements showing fictitious gains.
The SEC’s complaint charges Heckler with violations of the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, and Sections 206(1), 206(2), 206(4) and Rule 206(4)-8 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Heckler has agreed to settle the SEC’s charges by consenting to a bifurcated judgment that permanently enjoins him from future violations of the charged provisions and bars him from the securities industry, with disgorgement and penalties to be resolved at a future date.
Investors in Cassatt or Conestoga May Recover their Losses with Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A.
If you invested in Cassatt or Conestoga, Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A. may help you. Goodman & Nekvasil, P.A., a St. Petersburg, FL law firm with a national practice representing victimized investors, has recovered more than $200 million dollars on behalf of victimized investors.
All our cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis by Kalju Nekvasil, Esq., formerly regional counsel with the NASD, now known as FINRA. Kalju Nekvasil, Esq. has practiced in this area of the law for more than 35 years.
There is no charge for an evaluation of your case. Further, we handle our cases on a contingency fee basis. This means that unless we recover money for you, we charge no attorney’s fee. Unless you recover any money, you pay us nothing, not even the costs and expenses which the firm will advance on your behalf.
If you incurred investment losses in Cassatt or Conestoga and would like your case evaluated by a securities attorney (again, there is no charge for an evaluation and all cases are handled on a purely contingency fee basis), please contact us.