The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced in an official press release that a sales agent based at 1 Global Capital, LLC, Roy Y. Gagaza, has been charged due to substantial links being found concerning the trading of unregistered securities of 1 Global. He has been accused of unlawfully selling more than $10.8 million worth of unregistered securities to several unsuspecting investors.
The SEC stated in its official announcement that:
Gagaza marketed 1 Global securities to investors as providing “peace of mind for some money in a volatile market” and claimed that the investments would achieve high single-digit or low double-digit annual returns.
The press release also revealed that Gagaza managed to reap around $403,000 in sale commissions, even though he was neither a legally registered broker-dealer, nor was he even an associate of a registered broker-dealer.
The SEC first filed charges against the owner of 1 Global Capital back in 2018, alongside a number of other relevant individuals, on the grounds that they had been reported to have been trading unregistered securities. Such transactions resulted in the defrauding of well over 3,600 investors. Following the charges, The SEC stated that the company had stolen millions of dollars from a vast number of investors, with the commission having already charged nine of 1 Global’s highest-ranking sales agents for having made violations against registration rules.
Emily Pasquinelli, Acting Chief of the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower, stated:
Whistleblowers play a critical role in an investigation, whether at the outset or during the course of an investigation.
Earlier this week the SEC awarded four whistleblowers with a total of over $31 million for providing information and assistance significant to successful enforcement actions.
The SEC’s investigation against Gagaza and 1 Global is being conducted by Mark Dee and Gary Miller. It is being supervised by Glenn Gordon, Fernando Torres and Elisha L. Frank, while the litigation process is being fronted by Alice Sum and Robert K. Levenson, with supervision from Andrew Schiff. The SEC reported that although Gagaza consented to an agreed injunction, $30,000 civil penalty, disgorgement of $157,993 with prejudgment interest of $16,640, he neither admitted to nor denied the serious allegations made against him.
