The Securities and Exchange Commission accused New York hedge-fund manager Corey Ribotsky and his firm of hiding losses and spending investors’ money on luxuries such as cars and a Rolex watch.
Mr. Ribotsky’s firm, NIR Group LLC, invested through so-called PIPE transactions, or private investment in public equity, which often involve deals with small companies desperate for cash. According to an SEC complaint filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in New York, Mr. Ribotsky from 2004 to 2009 misappropriated more than $1 million in assets, at times writing checks to himself and telling employees to cash them for him.
Mr. Ribotsky, 40 years old, also made “false and misleading statements” to investors in 2007, 2008 and 2009 about his funds’ performance and ability to sell assets to raise cash, according to the SEC complaint. The hedge funds in question reported holding as much as $876 million in assets.