SEC v. Krish Kumar, Northern District of Oklahoma (Mar. 27, 2026) — Complaint
raw: this Complaint against Krish Kumar (“Kumar” or “Defendant”) and alleges as follows:
this Complaint against Krish Kumar (“Kumar” or “Defendant”) and alleges as follows: (Mar. 27, 2026)
Classified ponzi(confidence 95%). EDGAR detection: forms Form D· recall 35% / precision 15%. detection rule →
Statutes
15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)15 U.S.C. § 77b15 U.S.C. § 78c15 U.S.C. § 77t(b)15 U.S.C. § 78u(d)15 U.S.C. § 80b-2(a)15 U.S.C. § 80b-6(4)15 U.S.C. § 77t(d)15 U.S.C. § 80b-9(e)17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-517 C.F.R. § 275.206(4)Section 17(a) of the Securities ActSection 10(b) of the Securities Exchange ActSections 206(1), (2), and (4) of the Investment Advisers ActSections 206(1), (2), and (4) of the Investment Advisers ActSections 206(1), (2), and (4) of the Investment Advisers ActSection 2(a)(1) of the Securities ActSection 2(a)(1) of the Securities ActSections 20(d) and 22(a) of the Securities ActSections 20(d) and 22(a) of the Securities ActSection 20(b) of the Securities ActSections 21(d)(1) and 21(d)(5) of the Exchange Act, Section 20(b) of the Securities ActSections 21(d)(1) and 21(d)(5) of the Exchange Act, Section 20(b) of the Securities ActRule 10b-5
Parties
Securities and Exchange CommissionKrish Kumar
Keywords
future fractalkumarfuturefractalinvestorsarcaneinvestmenttradingfractal assetsdocument usdcusdc pageassetsfundsstrategyetf
Extracted insights
Dollar amounts 20
- $7.80M $7.8 million $1M–$10M
- $7.00M $7 million $1M–$10M
- $6.21M $6,207,269 $1M–$10M
- $6.00M $6 million $1M–$10M
- $5.85M $5,845,040 $1M–$10M
- $5.60M $5.6 million $1M–$10M
- $5.40M $5.4 million $1M–$10M
- $4.70M $4.7 million $1M–$10M
- $1.80M $1.8 million $1M–$10M
- $1.30M $1.3 million $1M–$10M
- $681K $681,000 $100K–$1M
- $470K $470,000 $100K–$1M
Entities 2
- company Arcane Resonance Fund LLC
- company Future Fractal Investments LLC
Triples 3
- Kumar raised approximately $7.8 million through Future Fractal Investments LLC and Arcane Resonance Fund, LLC
- Kumar misappropriated nearly $7 million of the Funds’ collective assets
- Kumar transferred more than $5.6 million of Future Fractal’s funds to personal accounts he controlled
Text layers
Extracted body text (38,406c)
1
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA
§
1. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, §
§
Plaintiff, §
§
v. § Case No.: 26-cv-00184-JFJ
§
2. KRISH KUMAR, §
§
Defendant. §
§
§
COMPLAINT
Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission” or “Plaintiff”) files
this Complaint against Krish Kumar (“Kumar” or “Defendant”) and alleges as follows:
I.
SUMMARY
1. From approximately January 2024 through February 2025, Kumar, a college
student from Tulsa, Oklahoma, raised approximately $7.8 million through two investment funds
that he established and solely managed, Future Fractal Investments LLC (“Future Fractal”) and
Arcane Resonance Fund, LLC (“Arcane”) (collectively, the “Funds”), based on materially false
and misleading representations. Over 13 months, Kumar offered and sold membership interests
in both Funds to approximately two dozen investors, nearly all of whom sent their investments to
bank and brokerage accounts in the name of Future Fractal. Of the approximate $7.8 million
raised from investors, Kumar, while at all times acting as an investment adviser, misappropriated
nearly $7 million of the Funds’ collective assets by transferring them to personal accounts he
controlled. Prior to misappropriating Future Fractal’s assets, Kumar placed trades that were
2
inconsistent with the Future Fractal trading strategy that he had marketed to investors when
soliciting their investments.
2. In offering materials, communications to investors and prospective investors, and
in-person meetings, Kumar made numerous materially false and misleading representations
about fundamental aspects of Future Fractal, including that: (a) he would employ an investment
strategy based on a proprietary algorithmic options trading strategy that he created and back-
tested; (b) the options trading strategy was designed to track the performance of the S&P 500
Index or the Nasdaq-100 Index by trading solely in two specific Index-Based ETFs (hereinafter,
“Index-Based ETF A” and “Index-Based ETF B”); (c) any risk of loss would be capped at
approximately 25% of the amount invested; (d) no trade would exceed 5% of Future Fractal’s
assets under management (“AUM”), with a maximum drawdown of 25%; (e) if there was a
drawdown greater than 25% at any point, investors would be completely reimbursed up to 75%
of their contributed capital, and (f) Future Fractal had achieved a 15.7% rate of return during its
first week of trading. Investors sent their funds to bank and brokerage accounts in the name of
Future Fractal. After trading in Future Fractal’s brokerage account for approximately four
weeks, Kumar subsequently transferred the majority of those funds to a brokerage account in his
own name, which he did not disclose to investors.
3. Starting on Future Fractal’s second day of active trading on or about January 30,
2024, and continuing through February 2024, Kumar made increasingly risky trades in securities
other than Index-Based ETF A and Index-Based ETF B contrary to his representations to
investors that he would only trade in those two ETFs and that he would employ his purported
proprietary algorithmic options trading strategy. Further, Future Fractal did not generate a return
3
of 15.7% during its first week of trading; in fact, Future Fractal lost approximately $470,000 of
the Fund’s assets trading outside of its investment strategy by the end of February 2024.
4. Beginning in or around late February 2024, through early March 2024, Kumar
transferred more than $5.6 million of Future Fractal’s funds to personal accounts he controlled,
including $5.4 million that he transferred to his own personal brokerage account and $250,000
that he transferred to a nominee account he controlled and that was not in the name of Future
Fractal. And after transferring most of Future Fractal’s assets into personal accounts he
controlled, Kumar continued to place trades that were inconsistent with the trading strategy he
had marketed to investors in soliciting their investments, resulting in virtually a total loss of
Future Fractal’s assets. Over the course of four trading days in mid-March 2024, Kumar lost
approximately 98% of the Future Fractal assets that he had transferred into his personal accounts
by executing trades that were outside the represented investment strategy for Future Fractal,
investing the vast majority of the funds in Issuer A, a publicly traded crypto-asset technology
company focused on Bitcoin mining. After these trades resulted in a nearly complete loss,
Kumar then lied to investors about what caused the loss, providing them with fabricated trading
records and telling them the loss was due to a combination of trades made within Future Fractal’s
represented investment strategy and the failure of a non-existent stop-loss order to prevent
further losses.
5. Beginning in May 2024, Kumar solicited mostly new investors to invest in a
second fund, Arcane, which purported to invest in crypto assets, equities, and options. Kumar
again made materially false and misleading representations to investors about Arcane’s
investment strategy and risk limits. Specifically, Kumar claimed in offering materials, among
other things, that the “worst case expected return” was 1.2x (which represented a 20% gain to the
4
investors), and that 99% of Arcane’s assets would be used for investment purposes. Further,
Kumar orally represented to an investor prior to his investing that the maximum risk of loss was
10-20% of Arcane’s capital, while at least 80% of Arcane’s assets would be held in cash. In
addition, Kumar told an Arcane investor that his prior fund had earned a 30-40% return, even
though the only prior fund he managed—Future Fractal—did not yield a positive return, much
less a 30-40% return. In total, Kumar and Arcane raised approximately $1.8 million from 10
investors, of which at least $300,000 was used to make unauthorized payments to a Future
Fractal investor for losses sustained in Future Fractal—a separate fund—along with a $20,000
payment to satisfy a debt Kumar owed to a third party unrelated to the Funds. After making
these unauthorized payments, Kumar transferred the remaining Arcane assets—approximately
$1.3 million—to his personal accounts, which he did not disclose to investors.
6. By committing the acts alleged in this Complaint, Kumar violated the antifraud
provisions of the federal securities laws; specifically, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933
(“Securities Act”) [15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)] and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(“Exchange Act”) [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and Rule 10b-5 thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5]. In
addition, Kumar violated Sections 206(1), (2), and (4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940
(“Advisers Act”) [15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-6(1), (2), and (4)] and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder [17 C.F.R.
§ 275.206(4)-8].
7. The Commission brings this action against Defendant Kumar seeking: (a)
injunctive relief; (b) disgorgement of ill-gotten gains; (c) pre-judgment interest on those ill-
gotten gains; (d) a civil penalty; and (e) all other equitable and ancillary relief to which the Court
determines that the Commission is entitled.
5
II.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
8. This case involves the offer and sale of limited liability company (“LLC”)
interests, which are investment contracts, and, thus, securities under Section 2(a)(1) of the
Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77b] and Section 3(a)(10) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. § 78c].
Thus, the Court has jurisdiction over this action under Sections 20(d) and 22(a) of the Securities
Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 77t(d) and 77v(a)] and Sections 21(d), 21(e), and 27 of the Exchange Act [15
U.S.C. §§ 78u(d), 78u(e), and 78aa]. The Commission brings this action under Section 20(b) of
the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77t(b)] and Section 21(d) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C.
§ 78u(d)], seeking to permanently restrain and enjoin Defendant from engaging in the acts and
practices alleged herein.
9. In addition, Kumar served as an investment adviser as that term is defined in
Section 202(a)(11) of the Advisers Act. Thus, the Court also has jurisdiction over this action
under Sections 209(c) and 214 of the Advisers Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-9(c) and 80b-14].
10. Kumar, directly and indirectly, made use of the mails or of the means and
instrumentalities of interstate commerce in connection with the acts, omissions, transactions,
practices, and/or courses of business alleged herein.
11. Venue is proper because a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise
to the claims occurred within the Northern District of Oklahoma, including but not limited to
Kumar’s sales of securities, misrepresentations, acts, practices, transactions, and courses of
business. Further, Kumar resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is served by this Division.
12. Kumar engaged in the acts, omissions, transactions, practices, and/or courses of
business described in this Complaint in connection with the offer, purchase, and/or sale of
securities.
6
III.
DEFENDANT
13. Krish Kumar resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At all relevant times, Kumar has been,
directly and indirectly, the sole manager and sole decision maker of the Funds, both of which he
founded.
IV.
RELEVANT ENTITIES
14. Future Fractal Investments LLC is an Oklahoma LLC with its principal place of
business in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Future Fractal is an investment fund that Kumar established in
January 2023. At all times, Kumar has served as the sole managing member and investment
adviser of Future Fractal.
15. Arcane Resonance Fund, LLC is a Michigan LLC with its principal place of
business in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Arcane is an investment fund that Kumar established in
August 2024. At all times, Kumar has effectively served as the sole manager and investment
adviser of Arcane through a separate entity of which Kumar is the sole managing member.
V.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
A. Background
16. Kumar was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He claims, among numerous other
accomplishments, to have earned a near-perfect SAT score and to be Valedictorian of his high
school class and a three-time Oklahoma state tennis champion. While in college, he interned for
a private investment firm in Tulsa and a private equity firm in Chicago.
1. Kumar’s First Fund: Future Fractal
17. On January 6, 2023, Kumar, who was 19 years old and a freshman in college at
the time, created Future Fractal, which was his first investment fund. At all times, Kumar was
7
the only person associated with Future Fractal, serving as its founder, sole managing member,
and investment adviser. On or before December 23, 2023, Kumar alone drafted and approved
Future Fractal’s Prospectus, which he subsequently provided to all investors to describe Future
Fractal’s strategy and his actions in furtherance of that strategy. Future Fractal’s Operating
Agreement expressly granted Kumar “exclusive veto power over any and all decisions” and
empowered him, as the fund manager, to run all the “day-to-day operations, including execution
of investment business.” For managing Future Fractal, the Prospectus provided that Kumar was
entitled to receive an annual 0.5% fee from Future Fractal based on the AUM, in addition to a
performance fee tied to various tiers of potential Future Fractal profits.
18. Between January 26, 2024, and March 6, 2024, Kumar used connections he had
developed from his upbringing in Tulsa to raise approximately $6 million for Future Fractal from
at least 13 investors. In oral representations during in-person meetings, calls, and
videoconferences, and in written materials such as the Future Fractal Prospectus, Kumar
represented to prospective investors that he planned to use an algorithmic options trading
strategy—that he had purportedly developed and back-tested—to exclusively trade in Index-
Based ETF A and Index-Based-ETF B, two broad-based exchange-traded funds. Based on
Kumar’s representations, investors sent funds to either a Future Fractal bank or brokerage
account, both of which were controlled by Kumar.
19. From January 30, 2024, through the end of February 2024, Kumar made
investments contrary to his representations to investors regarding the specific types of
investments and limitations in the percentage of the AUM to be invested. These trading
activities resulted in a loss to Future Fractal investors of approximately $470,000.
8
20. Beginning in or around late February 2024, through early March 2024, Kumar
transferred nearly $5.4 million of Future Fractal’s assets to his personal brokerage account, and
$250,000 to a nominee brokerage account that Kumar controlled and that was not in the name of
Future Fractal. After Future Fractal’s assets were transferred into personal accounts he
controlled, Kumar continued to execute trades inconsistent with the represented investment
strategy and ultimately lost virtually all of Future Fractal’s assets. At all times, Kumar met the
definition of an investment advisor under Section 202(a)(11) of the Advisers Act. In offering
materials and representations to investors, Kumar described how he made all investment
decisions on behalf of the Funds, and he expected to receive compensation of management fees
for his role as an investment adviser to the Funds.
2. Kumar’s Second Fund: Arcane
21. Beginning in May 2024, only months after transferring Future Fractal’s assets into
personal accounts he controlled, Kumar set out to launch his second investment fund called
Arcane. Arcane was purportedly focused on trading in crypto assets, as well as a variety of
securities, including options, using a mathematical arbitrage strategy Kumar had purportedly
developed. At all times, Kumar was the only person associated with Arcane. He was Arcane’s
founder, sole manager (though a separate entity Kumar also exclusively controlled and managed),
and sole decision-maker. Kumar contributed to, reviewed, and approved Arcane’s Private
Placement Memorandum (“PPM”), Pitch Deck, and Operating Agreement prior to dissemination
to investors. At all times, Kumar was acting as an investment adviser to Arcane.
22. Arcane’s Operating Agreement gave Kumar “the exclusive right to manage”
Arcane’s “day-to-day activities,” including, without limitation, the right to take “any other action
related to [its] operations in any way.” Arcane’s Operating Agreement further authorized Kumar
9
to receive up to a 1% management fee on Arcane’s AUM and provided for Kumar to receive a
performance fee tied to various tiers of potential Arcane profits.
23. Between May 2024 and February 2025, Kumar and Arcane raised approximately
$1.8 million from 10 investors. Most of them had not previously invested in Future Fractal and
were predominately parents of Kumar’s college friends.
24. The majority of Arcane investors sent their investments to a bank account in the
name of Future Fractal, from which Kumar used $300,000 to pay a Future Fractal investor for
losses that investor had previously sustained in Future Fractal and $20,000 to satisfy a debt
Kumar owed to an individual unrelated to either of the Funds. Kumar subsequently transferred
Arcane’s remaining assets into his personal bank account, and then into his personal account at a
crypto asset trading platform. By March 11, 2025, Kumar informed Arcane investors that
Arcane was down approximately 80% of its value.
B. Kumar Defrauded Future Fractal’s Investors.
25. In the course of the Future Fractal offering, Kumar made numerous materially
false and misleading representations to investors regarding Future Fractal’s investment strategy,
transfers of fund assets, returns, and his actual trading activities. He also lied in an attempt to
conceal his fraudulent scheme.
1. Misrepresentations About Future Fractal’s Investment Strategy and Returns
a. False and Misleading Statements in Offering Materials
26. In communications with investors and in Future Fractal’s offering materials,
Kumar represented that he would implement a relatively conservative options investment
strategy using a proprietary high-frequency algorithm that he purportedly created and back-
tested. Specifically, Kumar represented that Future Fractal would only trade in Index-Based
ETF A and Index-Based ETF B options, which, in turn, were designed to track the performance
10
of the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq-100 Index, respectively. Also, Kumar represented in
offering materials that any risk of loss would be capped at approximately 25% of the amount
invested and, further, that no trade would exceed 5% of Future Fractal’s AUM.
27. Kumar memorialized Future Fractal’s representations in the Future Fractal
Prospectus dated December 27, 2023, which Kumar provided to existing and prospective
investors before they agreed to invest. For example, the Prospectus stated:
“[Future Fractal] will appropriately manage risk and never allow for more than a 25%
drawdown. Given there is a drawdown greater that 25% at any point, Investors will
be completely reimbursed up to 75% of their contributed capital.”
“Future Fractal’s primary objective is to generate aggressive market returns through
the purchase of 0-1 DTE options contracts. We take advantage of explosive price
movements while sharply mitigating risk.”
“We will only purchase [Index-Based ETF A] and [Index-Based ETF B] options with
less than 10% of the total volume being [Index-Based ETF B]. These provide the
best market liquidity and spread between the ‘bid’ and the ‘ask.’ Indexes will also
perform well with the algorithm due to stability and high volume.”
“We will only use up to 5% of the AUM per trade, and there will be a maximum
drawdown of 20% per trade. The account will never go below 75% of the starting
value.”
28. These representations were materially false, and Kumar, as the sole person
engaging in the trading activity at issue, knew, or was reckless in not knowing, that they were
false.
b. Kumar Disregarded Future Fractal’s Investment Strategy Promised to
Investors and Misappropriated Future Fractal’s Assets.
29. Kumar made false and misleading representations to investors in offering
materials and other communications. These include, among other things, that: (1) Future Fractal
would only purchase Index-Based ETF A and Index-Based ETF B options based on Kumar’s
algorithmic trading strategy that he developed and back-tested; (2) any risk of loss would be
limited by only using 5% of the Future Fractal’s AUM per trade and a maximum drawdown of
11
20% per trade; and (3) Future Fractal would use volatile options that expired no more than one
day after the purchase of the option (i.e., “0-1 DTE options”). Kumar did not intend to abide by
these promises to investors, as demonstrated by his actual trading activities prior to his transfer
of Future Fractal’s assets to personal accounts he controlled.
30. Starting on January 30, 2024—Future Fractal’s second day of active trading—and
continuing through the end of February 2024, Kumar traded Future Fractal assets in securities
other than Index-Based ETF A and Index-Based ETF B. Records from Future Fractal’s accounts
indicate that, in fact, Kumar never traded in Index-Based ETF A, with limited trading in Index-
Based ETF B.
31. Kumar never disclosed to investors his transfer of the Future Fractal assets from
Future Fractal accounts to personal accounts or accounts not in the name of Future Fractal, as
further described in paragraph 20 above. Kumar also made false and misleading representations
regarding Future Fractal’s trading strategy and position limitations promised to investors.
Between March 11 and 14, 2024, Kumar, after transferring Future Fractal assets to personal
accounts, bought 33,009 option contracts in Issuer A for approximately $5,845,040. This
constituted 80% of the outstanding trading volume for options on Issuer A in the market for that
period. This trade was contrary to representations in the Future Fractal Prospectus identified
above, including: (a) the limitation of trading exclusively in Index-Based ETF A and Index-
Based ETF B; (b) the limitation to a 25% drawdown of the Future Fractal’s assets; and (c) the
cap of 5% of AUM for single trades. At the time he made these trades, Kumar understood that
he was betting nearly 100% of the remaining Future Fractal assets on one trade in Issuer A.
12
32. Moreover, these Issuer A option contracts that Kumar purchased on March 11,
2025, were scheduled to expire on Friday, March 15. Therefore, these were not 0-1 DTE options
as represented in the Future Fractal Prospectus.
c. Kumar’s False Statements about Future Fractal’s Returns
33. Even before trading in contravention of his represented trading strategy, Kumar
made false and misleading representations to investors about profits he had purportedly
generated for Future Fractal. As part of Kumar’s solicitation for additional Future Fractal
investors, on February 3, 2024, Kumar sent an email to more than 30 existing and prospective
investors wherein he made false and misleading representations regarding the initial returns
purportedly achieved by Future Fractal. In that email, addressed to “Investor (sic) and Potential
Investors,” Kumar boasted that “[t]hrough careful navigation and discipline” Future Fractal
generated a positive return of 15.7% in its very first week of trading—from January 29, 2024,
through February 2, 2024. He also included a chart reflecting that Future Fractal’s first-week
return was roughly 15 times greater than the returns earned by other indices during the same time
period. After sending this email, Future Fractal received 12 additional investments, all but two
from new investors, which raised an additional $4.7 million for Future Fractal.
34. Kumar knew, or was reckless in not knowing, that his February 3, 2024
representations regarding Future Fractal’s trading results was false and misleading. On the day
Kumar sent this email, the only account in which Future Fractal traded securities was a
brokerage account in the name of Future Fractal. Only Kumar had authority over this account
and access to its account statements. Trading analysis in the brokerage account indicates Future
Fractal did not generate a positive return of 15.7% in its first week of trading. Rather, Future
Fractal incurred losses of approximately $1,200 (0.09%) for the week.
13
35. Moreover, reporting Future Fractal’s performance compared to market indexes is
additionally deceptive because Kumar and Future Fractal did not trade in Index-Based ETF A
and Index-Based ETF B. Thus, comparing Future Fractal’s purported performance with market
indexes reinforced the false representation that Future Fractal’s trading strategy was limited to
trades in discrete index-based ETFs.
36. By the end of February 2024, Kumar had lost approximately $470,000 of Future
Fractal’s assets in the Future Fractal brokerage account by trading outside the specific trading
strategy he had represented to investors. Kumar subsequently proceeded to transfer the
remaining Future Fractal assets from Future Fractal’s brokerage account to a brokerage account
in Kumar’s name and a nominee brokerage account that Kumar accessed.
2. Kumar Lied to Future Fractal Investors About Future Fractal’s Losses.
37. In an effort to conceal his fraud, in a March 14, 2024 email titled “Explanation
and Evidence of Loss,” Kumar reported to Future Fractal investors a loss of $6,207,269,
representing approximately a 98% drawdown in funds. Contrary to what actually occurred,
Kumar misrepresented that the losses resulted from options trades in Index-Based ETF B and the
failure of a stop-loss order to be entered. As evidence of the Index-Based ETF B trades that
purportedly caused the loss, Kumar attached to the email screenshots of the transactions,
presumably from Future Fractal’s brokerage statement, purporting to show specific trades in
Index-Based ETF B.
38. However, other than disclosing the trading loss to Future Fractal investors,
everything else that Kumar wrote to investors in his March 14, 2024 email was false: (a) his
trading in Issuer A was the sole cause of loss and not any trading in Index-Based ETF B;
(b) there was no failure of a requested stop-loss to be executed as to his fictitious trading in
Index-Based ETF B; and (c) he never placed a stop-loss order on his actual trading in Issuer A.
14
Further, the screenshot that Kumar included in his March 14, 2024 email—which purported to
show his trading in Index-Based ETF B—was a fabrication. Kumar photoshopped the image to
create the appearance of actual trades in Index-Based ETF B. And Kumar never disclosed that
he had transferred a majority of Future Fractal’s assets into personal brokerage accounts he
controlled and made these trades from those accounts.
39. On the same day that Kumar sent his fraudulent email to Future Fractal’s
investors (March 14, 2024), Kumar separately texted a Future Fractal investor, blaming the loss
on Index-Based ETF A trades. Kumar’s statement in this text to the investor was not true. The
98% drawdown was not caused by trading in Index-Based ETF A options.
C. Kumar Defrauded Arcane’s Investors.
40. In May 2024, Kumar started raising additional investor funds for what would later
become Arcane. Kumar solicited investors with additional false and misleading representations
to existing and prospective investors regarding Arcane’s investment strategy, Arcane’s returns,
and the use of Arcane investor funds.
1. Kumar Misrepresented Arcane’s Investment Strategy and Future Fractal’s
Prior Returns.
41. In July and August 2024, an Arcane investor collectively invested more than
$450,000 in Arcane. During May and June 2024, in oral communications soliciting this
investor’s funds, Kumar represented that the maximum risk of loss was 10-20% of Arcane’s
capital, while at least 80% of Arcane’s assets would be held in cash. Kumar further provided the
investor with offering materials—including a PPM and a Pitch Deck—setting forth Arcane’s
mathematical arbitrage strategy. The investment strategy detailed how Arcane would
purportedly invest in crypto assets based on Kumar’s proprietary algorithm, which, in turn, had
purportedly analyzed an extensive dataset that adhered to the Arcane’s mathematical framework.
15
Kumar claimed to have conducted over 100,000 simulations with each one of them
demonstrating “zero cases of principal loss.” In the offering materials provided to investors and
prospective investors, Kumar represented that the “[w]orst case expected return” was 1.2x the
value of their investment, which Kumar represented as a 17% gain on investment.
42. Kumar also told the investor that he had run another fund—presumably Future
Fractal, because that was the only other fund that Kumar had run—which did not yield the
returns he had hoped for, yielding a positive return of only between 30-40%. However, as
detailed in paragraphs 25 to 32 above, after he transferred the Future Fractal assets into personal
accounts he controlled, Kumar lost approximately 98% of the remaining assets.
43. Kumar provided Arcane’s investors with weekly commentaries on the profit-and-
loss status of their investments. From Arcane’s first weekly correspondence with investors in
early September 2024 through January 20, 2025, Kumar reported, with an occasional minor dip,
an upward trend of positive returns for Arcane, culminating with news of a net cumulative gain
of 33.07%. However, on January 30, 2025, Kumar told investors that Arcane was down in value
approximately 10% of its assets. Less than two weeks later, during the week of February 11,
2025, Kumar informed Arcane’s investors that Arcane had a negative cumulative return of
22.17%. Kumar further reported that this loss was due to a “shift in strategy” he made the week
before to invest mostly in meme coins.
44. According to at least one investor, Kumar did not tell investors that he was going
to change the Arcane’s strategy. This investor called Kumar and then learned for the first time
that Arcane might be at least 70% long in illiquid meme coins. The investor demanded that
Kumar disclose to all Arcane investors exactly what Arcane’s investments were. In response,
Kumar told the investor that Arcane’s exact holdings were confidential and proprietary, and that
16
he would not disclose the holdings. By March 11, 2025, Kumar reported to investors that
Arcane was down approximately 80%.
2. Kumar Used Arcane Assets to Pay Future Fractal Investors.
45. In Arcane’s PPM, Kumar represented to investors that approximately 99% of
investor funds would be used for investments with approximately 1% to be used for professional
(e.g., legal, audit, tax) and operational expenses. Kumar knew, or was reckless in not knowing,
that these representations were false.
46. Kumar commingled Arcane investor funds with Future Fractal investor funds in a
bank account in the name of Future Fractal that Kumar had previously opened in February 2024.
Arcane investor funds were then used for unauthorized purposes, including to make an
unauthorized payment to a Future Fractal investor. For example, financial statements and
Kumar’s sworn testimony confirm that, on November 4, 2024, within just days of receiving the
$450,000 principal investment from an Arcane investor, Kumar paid $300,000 of those investor
funds to a Future Fractal investor who had requested his principal back following Future
Fractal’s collapse. Previously, on November 2, 2024, in text messages to the Future Fractal
investor that he repaid, Kumar lied about the source of the reimbursements, telling the Future
Fractal investor that the source of funds came from trading in meme coins. In addition, Kumar
used $20,000 of Arcane investor funds to satisfy debt Kumar owed to a third party that was
unaffiliated with either of the Funds.
47. As a result of his conduct, Kumar misappropriated more than $5.6 million Future
Fractal assets and more than $1.3 million Arcane assets by transferring these Funds’ assets to
personal accounts he controlled. Kumar has repaid approximately $681,000 to investors.
17
V.
CLAIMS FOR RELIEF
FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and Rule
10b-5 thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5]
48. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates paragraphs 1-47 of this Complaint by
reference as if set forth verbatim in this Claim.
49. By engaging in the acts and conduct alleged herein, Defendant Kumar, directly or
indirectly, in connection with the purchase or sale of securities, by the use of any means or
instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails or of any facility of any national securities
exchange, knowingly or with recklessness:
a. employed a device, scheme, or artifice to defraud; and/or
b. made an untrue statement of material fact, or omitted to state a material fact
necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
under which they were made, not misleading; and/or
c. engaged in an act, practice, or course of business which operated or would
operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person.
50. By reason of the foregoing, Defendant Kumar violated, and unless restrained and
enjoined will continue to violate, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and
Rule 10b-5 thereunder [17 C.F.R. §§ 240.10b-5].
SECOND CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. §77q(a)]
51. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates paragraphs 1-47 of this Complaint by
reference as if set forth verbatim in this Claim.
18
52. By engaging in the acts and conduct alleged herein, Defendant Kumar, directly or
indirectly, in the offer or sale of securities, by use of the means or instruments of transportation or
communication in interstate commerce or by the use of the mails, has:
a. knowingly or with recklessness employed a device, scheme, or artifice to
defraud; and/or
b. knowingly, with recklessness, or negligently obtained money or property by
means of an untrue statement of a material fact or an omission to state a material
fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the
circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; and/or
c. knowingly, with recklessness, or negligently engaged in a transaction, practice,
or course of business which operated or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon
the purchaser.
53. By reason of the foregoing, Defendant Kumar has violated, and unless restrained
and enjoined will continue to violate, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)].
THIRD CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Violations of Sections 206(1) and (2) of the Advisers Act
[15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-6(1) and 80b-6(2)]
54. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates paragraphs 1-47 of this Complaint by
reference as if set forth verbatim in this Claim.
55. At all relevant times, Defendant Kumar was an investment adviser under Advisers
Act Section 202(a)(11) [15 U.S.C. § 80b-2(a)(11)]. As such, Kumar owed the Funds a fiduciary
duty of utmost good faith and had an affirmative duty to make full and fair disclosures of all
material facts, as well as a duty to act in the Funds’ best interests.
19
56. By engaging in the conduct described above, Kumar, while acting as an investment
adviser, by use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, directly or
indirectly: (a) knowingly or with recklessness employed a device, scheme, or artifice to defraud
any client or prospective client, and (b) knowingly, with recklessness, or negligently engaged in a
transaction, practice, or course of business which operated as a fraud or deceit upon any client or
prospective client.
57. By reason of the foregoing, Kumar has violated, and unless restrained and
enjoined will continue to violate, Sections 206(1) and (2) of the Advisers Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-
6(1) and (2)].
FOURTH CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Violations of Sections 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-8) thereunder
[15 U.S.C. § 80b-6(4) and 17 C.F.R. § 275.206(4)-8]
58. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates paragraphs 1-47 of this Complaint by
reference as if set forth verbatim in this Claim.
59. At all relevant times, Defendant Kumar was an investment adviser under Advisers
Act Section 202(a)(11) [15 U.S.C. § 80b-2(a)(11)].
60. Future Fractal is a “pooled investment vehicle” as defined in Rule 206(4)-8(b) [17
C.F.R. § 275.206(4)-8(b)].
61. Defendant, while acting as an investment adviser, by use of the mails or any
means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, directly or indirectly, engaged in acts practices,
or courses of business which were fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative. Defendant, directly or
indirectly, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently: (a) made untrue statements of material fact or
omitted to state material facts necessary to make the statements made, in the light of the
circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, to investors or prospective investors
20
in a pooled investment vehicle; or (b) otherwise engaged in acts, practices, or courses of business
that were fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative with respect to investors or prospective investors
in a pooled investment vehicle.
62. By reason of the foregoing, Defendant has violated, and unless restrained and
enjoined will continue to violate, Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-8
thereunder. [15 U.S.C. § 80b-6(4); 17 C.F.R. § 275.206(4)-8].
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, the Commission respectfully requests that the Court enter a Judgment:
63. Permanently restraining and enjoining Defendant Kumar from violating Section
17(a) of the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)], Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C.
§ 78j(b)] and Rule 10b-5 thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5], and Sections 206(1), (2), and (4) of
the Advisers Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-6(1) and (2)] and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder [17 C.F.R.
§ 275.206(4)-8];
64. Restraining and enjoining Defendant Kumar, for a period of five years, from:
(i) directly or indirectly, including, but not limited to, through any entity owned or controlled by
him, participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security, provided, however,
that such injunction shall not prevent him from purchasing or selling securities for his own
personal account; and (ii) directly or indirectly acting as or being associated with any investment
adviser, pursuant to Sections 21(d)(1) and 21(d)(5) of the Exchange Act, Section 20(b) of the
Securities Act, and Section 209(d) of the Advisers Act. For purposes of this paragraph, a person
is associated with an investment adviser if such person is a partner, officer, or director of such
investment adviser (or performs similar functions), or directly or indirectly controls or is
controlled by such investment adviser, including any employee of such investment adviser;
65. Ordering Defendant Kumar to disgorge all ill-gotten gains he received as a result
of the conduct alleged herein, together with pre-judgment interest on those amounts, pursuant to
Sections 21(d)(3), 21(d)(5) and 21(d)(7) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 78u(d)(3), 78u(d)(5),
and 78u(d)(7)];
66. Ordering Defendant Kumar to pay a civil penalty pursuant to Section 20(d) of the
Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77t(d)], Section 21(d)(3) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C.
§ 78u(d)(3)], and Section 209(e) of the Advisers Act [15 U.S.C. § 80b-9(e)]; and
67. Granting such other and further relief as this Court may determine to be just and
necessary.
Dated: March 26, 2026 Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Patrick Disbennett
Patrick Disbennett
Securities and Exchange Commission
Fort Worth Regional Office
801 Cherry Street, Suite 1900
Fort Worth, Texas 76102
Phone: (817) 978-6442
Email: [email protected]
ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSIONOCR text (40,990c · textlayer · 95% conf)
1
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF OKLAHOMA
§
1. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, §
§
Plaintiff, §
§
v. § Case No.: 26-cv-00184-JFJ
§
2. KRISH KUMAR, §
§
Defendant. §
§
§
COMPLAINT
Plaintiff Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission” or “Plaintiff”) files
this Complaint against Krish Kumar (“Kumar” or “Defendant”) and alleges as follows:
I.
SUMMARY
1. From approximately January 2024 through February 2025, Kumar, a college
student from Tulsa, Oklahoma, raised approximately $7.8 million through two investment funds
that he established and solely managed, Future Fractal Investments LLC (“Future Fractal”) and
Arcane Resonance Fund, LLC (“Arcane”) (collectively, the “Funds”), based on materially false
and misleading representations. Over 13 months, Kumar offered and sold membership interests
in both Funds to approximately two dozen investors, nearly all of whom sent their investments to
bank and brokerage accounts in the name of Future Fractal. Of the approximate $7.8 million
raised from investors, Kumar, while at all times acting as an investment adviser, misappropriated
nearly $7 million of the Funds’ collective assets by transferring them to personal accounts he
controlled. Prior to misappropriating Future Fractal’s assets, Kumar placed trades that were
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inconsistent with the Future Fractal trading strategy that he had marketed to investors when
soliciting their investments.
2. In offering materials, communications to investors and prospective investors, and
in-person meetings, Kumar made numerous materially false and misleading representations
about fundamental aspects of Future Fractal, including that: (a) he would employ an investment
strategy based on a proprietary algorithmic options trading strategy that he created and back-
tested; (b) the options trading strategy was designed to track the performance of the S&P 500
Index or the Nasdaq-100 Index by trading solely in two specific Index-Based ETFs (hereinafter,
“Index-Based ETF A” and “Index-Based ETF B”); (c) any risk of loss would be capped at
approximately 25% of the amount invested; (d) no trade would exceed 5% of Future Fractal’s
assets under management (“AUM”), with a maximum drawdown of 25%; (e) if there was a
drawdown greater than 25% at any point, investors would be completely reimbursed up to 75%
of their contributed capital, and (f) Future Fractal had achieved a 15.7% rate of return during its
first week of trading. Investors sent their funds to bank and brokerage accounts in the name of
Future Fractal. After trading in Future Fractal’s brokerage account for approximately four
weeks, Kumar subsequently transferred the majority of those funds to a brokerage account in his
own name, which he did not disclose to investors.
3. Starting on Future Fractal’s second day of active trading on or about January 30,
2024, and continuing through February 2024, Kumar made increasingly risky trades in securities
other than Index-Based ETF A and Index-Based ETF B contrary to his representations to
investors that he would only trade in those two ETFs and that he would employ his purported
proprietary algorithmic options trading strategy. Further, Future Fractal did not generate a return
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of 15.7% during its first week of trading; in fact, Future Fractal lost approximately $470,000 of
the Fund’s assets trading outside of its investment strategy by the end of February 2024.
4. Beginning in or around late February 2024, through early March 2024, Kumar
transferred more than $5.6 million of Future Fractal’s funds to personal accounts he controlled,
including $5.4 million that he transferred to his own personal brokerage account and $250,000
that he transferred to a nominee account he controlled and that was not in the name of Future
Fractal. And after transferring most of Future Fractal’s assets into personal accounts he
controlled, Kumar continued to place trades that were inconsistent with the trading strategy he
had marketed to investors in soliciting their investments, resulting in virtually a total loss of
Future Fractal’s assets. Over the course of four trading days in mid-March 2024, Kumar lost
approximately 98% of the Future Fractal assets that he had transferred into his personal accounts
by executing trades that were outside the represented investment strategy for Future Fractal,
investing the vast majority of the funds in Issuer A, a publicly traded crypto-asset technology
company focused on Bitcoin mining. After these trades resulted in a nearly complete loss,
Kumar then lied to investors about what caused the loss, providing them with fabricated trading
records and telling them the loss was due to a combination of trades made within Future Fractal’s
represented investment strategy and the failure of a non-existent stop-loss order to prevent
further losses.
5. Beginning in May 2024, Kumar solicited mostly new investors to invest in a
second fund, Arcane, which purported to invest in crypto assets, equities, and options. Kumar
again made materially false and misleading representations to investors about Arcane’s
investment strategy and risk limits. Specifically, Kumar claimed in offering materials, among
other things, that the “worst case expected return” was 1.2x (which represented a 20% gain to the
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investors), and that 99% of Arcane’s assets would be used for investment purposes. Further,
Kumar orally represented to an investor prior to his investing that the maximum risk of loss was
10-20% of Arcane’s capital, while at least 80% of Arcane’s assets would be held in cash. In
addition, Kumar told an Arcane investor that his prior fund had earned a 30-40% return, even
though the only prior fund he managed—Future Fractal—did not yield a positive return, much
less a 30-40% return. In total, Kumar and Arcane raised approximately $1.8 million from 10
investors, of which at least $300,000 was used to make unauthorized payments to a Future
Fractal investor for losses sustained in Future Fractal—a separate fund—along with a $20,000
payment to satisfy a debt Kumar owed to a third party unrelated to the Funds. After making
these unauthorized payments, Kumar transferred the remaining Arcane assets—approximately
$1.3 million—to his personal accounts, which he did not disclose to investors.
6. By committing the acts alleged in this Complaint, Kumar violated the antifraud
provisions of the federal securities laws; specifically, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933
(“Securities Act”) [15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)] and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934
(“Exchange Act”) [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and Rule 10b-5 thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5]. In
addition, Kumar violated Sections 206(1), (2), and (4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940
(“Advisers Act”) [15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-6(1), (2), and (4)] and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder [17 C.F.R.
§ 275.206(4)-8].
7. The Commission brings this action against Defendant Kumar seeking: (a)
injunctive relief; (b) disgorgement of ill-gotten gains; (c) pre-judgment interest on those ill-
gotten gains; (d) a civil penalty; and (e) all other equitable and ancillary relief to which the Court
determines that the Commission is entitled.
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II.
JURISDICTION AND VENUE
8. This case involves the offer and sale of limited liability company (“LLC”)
interests, which are investment contracts, and, thus, securities under Section 2(a)(1) of the
Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77b] and Section 3(a)(10) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. § 78c].
Thus, the Court has jurisdiction over this action under Sections 20(d) and 22(a) of the Securities
Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 77t(d) and 77v(a)] and Sections 21(d), 21(e), and 27 of the Exchange Act [15
U.S.C. §§ 78u(d), 78u(e), and 78aa]. The Commission brings this action under Section 20(b) of
the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77t(b)] and Section 21(d) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C.
§ 78u(d)], seeking to permanently restrain and enjoin Defendant from engaging in the acts and
practices alleged herein.
9. In addition, Kumar served as an investment adviser as that term is defined in
Section 202(a)(11) of the Advisers Act. Thus, the Court also has jurisdiction over this action
under Sections 209(c) and 214 of the Advisers Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-9(c) and 80b-14].
10. Kumar, directly and indirectly, made use of the mails or of the means and
instrumentalities of interstate commerce in connection with the acts, omissions, transactions,
practices, and/or courses of business alleged herein.
11. Venue is proper because a substantial part of the events or omissions giving rise
to the claims occurred within the Northern District of Oklahoma, including but not limited to
Kumar’s sales of securities, misrepresentations, acts, practices, transactions, and courses of
business. Further, Kumar resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which is served by this Division.
12. Kumar engaged in the acts, omissions, transactions, practices, and/or courses of
business described in this Complaint in connection with the offer, purchase, and/or sale of
securities.
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III.
DEFENDANT
13. Krish Kumar resides in Tulsa, Oklahoma. At all relevant times, Kumar has been,
directly and indirectly, the sole manager and sole decision maker of the Funds, both of which he
founded.
IV.
RELEVANT ENTITIES
14. Future Fractal Investments LLC is an Oklahoma LLC with its principal place of
business in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Future Fractal is an investment fund that Kumar established in
January 2023. At all times, Kumar has served as the sole managing member and investment
adviser of Future Fractal.
15. Arcane Resonance Fund, LLC is a Michigan LLC with its principal place of
business in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Arcane is an investment fund that Kumar established in
August 2024. At all times, Kumar has effectively served as the sole manager and investment
adviser of Arcane through a separate entity of which Kumar is the sole managing member.
V.
STATEMENT OF FACTS
A. Background
16. Kumar was raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He claims, among numerous other
accomplishments, to have earned a near-perfect SAT score and to be Valedictorian of his high
school class and a three-time Oklahoma state tennis champion. While in college, he interned for
a private investment firm in Tulsa and a private equity firm in Chicago.
1. Kumar’s First Fund: Future Fractal
17. On January 6, 2023, Kumar, who was 19 years old and a freshman in college at
the time, created Future Fractal, which was his first investment fund. At all times, Kumar was
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7
the only person associated with Future Fractal, serving as its founder, sole managing member,
and investment adviser. On or before December 23, 2023, Kumar alone drafted and approved
Future Fractal’s Prospectus, which he subsequently provided to all investors to describe Future
Fractal’s strategy and his actions in furtherance of that strategy. Future Fractal’s Operating
Agreement expressly granted Kumar “exclusive veto power over any and all decisions” and
empowered him, as the fund manager, to run all the “day-to-day operations, including execution
of investment business.” For managing Future Fractal, the Prospectus provided that Kumar was
entitled to receive an annual 0.5% fee from Future Fractal based on the AUM, in addition to a
performance fee tied to various tiers of potential Future Fractal profits.
18. Between January 26, 2024, and March 6, 2024, Kumar used connections he had
developed from his upbringing in Tulsa to raise approximately $6 million for Future Fractal from
at least 13 investors. In oral representations during in-person meetings, calls, and
videoconferences, and in written materials such as the Future Fractal Prospectus, Kumar
represented to prospective investors that he planned to use an algorithmic options trading
strategy—that he had purportedly developed and back-tested—to exclusively trade in Index-
Based ETF A and Index-Based-ETF B, two broad-based exchange-traded funds. Based on
Kumar’s representations, investors sent funds to either a Future Fractal bank or brokerage
account, both of which were controlled by Kumar.
19. From January 30, 2024, through the end of February 2024, Kumar made
investments contrary to his representations to investors regarding the specific types of
investments and limitations in the percentage of the AUM to be invested. These trading
activities resulted in a loss to Future Fractal investors of approximately $470,000.
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20. Beginning in or around late February 2024, through early March 2024, Kumar
transferred nearly $5.4 million of Future Fractal’s assets to his personal brokerage account, and
$250,000 to a nominee brokerage account that Kumar controlled and that was not in the name of
Future Fractal. After Future Fractal’s assets were transferred into personal accounts he
controlled, Kumar continued to execute trades inconsistent with the represented investment
strategy and ultimately lost virtually all of Future Fractal’s assets. At all times, Kumar met the
definition of an investment advisor under Section 202(a)(11) of the Advisers Act. In offering
materials and representations to investors, Kumar described how he made all investment
decisions on behalf of the Funds, and he expected to receive compensation of management fees
for his role as an investment adviser to the Funds.
2. Kumar’s Second Fund: Arcane
21. Beginning in May 2024, only months after transferring Future Fractal’s assets into
personal accounts he controlled, Kumar set out to launch his second investment fund called
Arcane. Arcane was purportedly focused on trading in crypto assets, as well as a variety of
securities, including options, using a mathematical arbitrage strategy Kumar had purportedly
developed. At all times, Kumar was the only person associated with Arcane. He was Arcane’s
founder, sole manager (though a separate entity Kumar also exclusively controlled and managed),
and sole decision-maker. Kumar contributed to, reviewed, and approved Arcane’s Private
Placement Memorandum (“PPM”), Pitch Deck, and Operating Agreement prior to dissemination
to investors. At all times, Kumar was acting as an investment adviser to Arcane.
22. Arcane’s Operating Agreement gave Kumar “the exclusive right to manage”
Arcane’s “day-to-day activities,” including, without limitation, the right to take “any other action
related to [its] operations in any way.” Arcane’s Operating Agreement further authorized Kumar
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to receive up to a 1% management fee on Arcane’s AUM and provided for Kumar to receive a
performance fee tied to various tiers of potential Arcane profits.
23. Between May 2024 and February 2025, Kumar and Arcane raised approximately
$1.8 million from 10 investors. Most of them had not previously invested in Future Fractal and
were predominately parents of Kumar’s college friends.
24. The majority of Arcane investors sent their investments to a bank account in the
name of Future Fractal, from which Kumar used $300,000 to pay a Future Fractal investor for
losses that investor had previously sustained in Future Fractal and $20,000 to satisfy a debt
Kumar owed to an individual unrelated to either of the Funds. Kumar subsequently transferred
Arcane’s remaining assets into his personal bank account, and then into his personal account at a
crypto asset trading platform. By March 11, 2025, Kumar informed Arcane investors that
Arcane was down approximately 80% of its value.
B. Kumar Defrauded Future Fractal’s Investors.
25. In the course of the Future Fractal offering, Kumar made numerous materially
false and misleading representations to investors regarding Future Fractal’s investment strategy,
transfers of fund assets, returns, and his actual trading activities. He also lied in an attempt to
conceal his fraudulent scheme.
1. Misrepresentations About Future Fractal’s Investment Strategy and Returns
a. False and Misleading Statements in Offering Materials
26. In communications with investors and in Future Fractal’s offering materials,
Kumar represented that he would implement a relatively conservative options investment
strategy using a proprietary high-frequency algorithm that he purportedly created and back-
tested. Specifically, Kumar represented that Future Fractal would only trade in Index-Based
ETF A and Index-Based ETF B options, which, in turn, were designed to track the performance
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of the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq-100 Index, respectively. Also, Kumar represented in
offering materials that any risk of loss would be capped at approximately 25% of the amount
invested and, further, that no trade would exceed 5% of Future Fractal’s AUM.
27. Kumar memorialized Future Fractal’s representations in the Future Fractal
Prospectus dated December 27, 2023, which Kumar provided to existing and prospective
investors before they agreed to invest. For example, the Prospectus stated:
“[Future Fractal] will appropriately manage risk and never allow for more than a 25%
drawdown. Given there is a drawdown greater that 25% at any point, Investors will
be completely reimbursed up to 75% of their contributed capital.”
“Future Fractal’s primary objective is to generate aggressive market returns through
the purchase of 0-1 DTE options contracts. We take advantage of explosive price
movements while sharply mitigating risk.”
“We will only purchase [Index-Based ETF A] and [Index-Based ETF B] options with
less than 10% of the total volume being [Index-Based ETF B]. These provide the
best market liquidity and spread between the ‘bid’ and the ‘ask.’ Indexes will also
perform well with the algorithm due to stability and high volume.”
“We will only use up to 5% of the AUM per trade, and there will be a maximum
drawdown of 20% per trade. The account will never go below 75% of the starting
value.”
28. These representations were materially false, and Kumar, as the sole person
engaging in the trading activity at issue, knew, or was reckless in not knowing, that they were
false.
b. Kumar Disregarded Future Fractal’s Investment Strategy Promised to
Investors and Misappropriated Future Fractal’s Assets.
29. Kumar made false and misleading representations to investors in offering
materials and other communications. These include, among other things, that: (1) Future Fractal
would only purchase Index-Based ETF A and Index-Based ETF B options based on Kumar’s
algorithmic trading strategy that he developed and back-tested; (2) any risk of loss would be
limited by only using 5% of the Future Fractal’s AUM per trade and a maximum drawdown of
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20% per trade; and (3) Future Fractal would use volatile options that expired no more than one
day after the purchase of the option (i.e., “0-1 DTE options”). Kumar did not intend to abide by
these promises to investors, as demonstrated by his actual trading activities prior to his transfer
of Future Fractal’s assets to personal accounts he controlled.
30. Starting on January 30, 2024—Future Fractal’s second day of active trading—and
continuing through the end of February 2024, Kumar traded Future Fractal assets in securities
other than Index-Based ETF A and Index-Based ETF B. Records from Future Fractal’s accounts
indicate that, in fact, Kumar never traded in Index-Based ETF A, with limited trading in Index-
Based ETF B.
31. Kumar never disclosed to investors his transfer of the Future Fractal assets from
Future Fractal accounts to personal accounts or accounts not in the name of Future Fractal, as
further described in paragraph 20 above. Kumar also made false and misleading representations
regarding Future Fractal’s trading strategy and position limitations promised to investors.
Between March 11 and 14, 2024, Kumar, after transferring Future Fractal assets to personal
accounts, bought 33,009 option contracts in Issuer A for approximately $5,845,040. This
constituted 80% of the outstanding trading volume for options on Issuer A in the market for that
period. This trade was contrary to representations in the Future Fractal Prospectus identified
above, including: (a) the limitation of trading exclusively in Index-Based ETF A and Index-
Based ETF B; (b) the limitation to a 25% drawdown of the Future Fractal’s assets; and (c) the
cap of 5% of AUM for single trades. At the time he made these trades, Kumar understood that
he was betting nearly 100% of the remaining Future Fractal assets on one trade in Issuer A.
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32. Moreover, these Issuer A option contracts that Kumar purchased on March 11,
2025, were scheduled to expire on Friday, March 15. Therefore, these were not 0-1 DTE options
as represented in the Future Fractal Prospectus.
c. Kumar’s False Statements about Future Fractal’s Returns
33. Even before trading in contravention of his represented trading strategy, Kumar
made false and misleading representations to investors about profits he had purportedly
generated for Future Fractal. As part of Kumar’s solicitation for additional Future Fractal
investors, on February 3, 2024, Kumar sent an email to more than 30 existing and prospective
investors wherein he made false and misleading representations regarding the initial returns
purportedly achieved by Future Fractal. In that email, addressed to “Investor (sic) and Potential
Investors,” Kumar boasted that “[t]hrough careful navigation and discipline” Future Fractal
generated a positive return of 15.7% in its very first week of trading—from January 29, 2024,
through February 2, 2024. He also included a chart reflecting that Future Fractal’s first-week
return was roughly 15 times greater than the returns earned by other indices during the same time
period. After sending this email, Future Fractal received 12 additional investments, all but two
from new investors, which raised an additional $4.7 million for Future Fractal.
34. Kumar knew, or was reckless in not knowing, that his February 3, 2024
representations regarding Future Fractal’s trading results was false and misleading. On the day
Kumar sent this email, the only account in which Future Fractal traded securities was a
brokerage account in the name of Future Fractal. Only Kumar had authority over this account
and access to its account statements. Trading analysis in the brokerage account indicates Future
Fractal did not generate a positive return of 15.7% in its first week of trading. Rather, Future
Fractal incurred losses of approximately $1,200 (0.09%) for the week.
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35. Moreover, reporting Future Fractal’s performance compared to market indexes is
additionally deceptive because Kumar and Future Fractal did not trade in Index-Based ETF A
and Index-Based ETF B. Thus, comparing Future Fractal’s purported performance with market
indexes reinforced the false representation that Future Fractal’s trading strategy was limited to
trades in discrete index-based ETFs.
36. By the end of February 2024, Kumar had lost approximately $470,000 of Future
Fractal’s assets in the Future Fractal brokerage account by trading outside the specific trading
strategy he had represented to investors. Kumar subsequently proceeded to transfer the
remaining Future Fractal assets from Future Fractal’s brokerage account to a brokerage account
in Kumar’s name and a nominee brokerage account that Kumar accessed.
2. Kumar Lied to Future Fractal Investors About Future Fractal’s Losses.
37. In an effort to conceal his fraud, in a March 14, 2024 email titled “Explanation
and Evidence of Loss,” Kumar reported to Future Fractal investors a loss of $6,207,269,
representing approximately a 98% drawdown in funds. Contrary to what actually occurred,
Kumar misrepresented that the losses resulted from options trades in Index-Based ETF B and the
failure of a stop-loss order to be entered. As evidence of the Index-Based ETF B trades that
purportedly caused the loss, Kumar attached to the email screenshots of the transactions,
presumably from Future Fractal’s brokerage statement, purporting to show specific trades in
Index-Based ETF B.
38. However, other than disclosing the trading loss to Future Fractal investors,
everything else that Kumar wrote to investors in his March 14, 2024 email was false: (a) his
trading in Issuer A was the sole cause of loss and not any trading in Index-Based ETF B;
(b) there was no failure of a requested stop-loss to be executed as to his fictitious trading in
Index-Based ETF B; and (c) he never placed a stop-loss order on his actual trading in Issuer A.
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Further, the screenshot that Kumar included in his March 14, 2024 email—which purported to
show his trading in Index-Based ETF B—was a fabrication. Kumar photoshopped the image to
create the appearance of actual trades in Index-Based ETF B. And Kumar never disclosed that
he had transferred a majority of Future Fractal’s assets into personal brokerage accounts he
controlled and made these trades from those accounts.
39. On the same day that Kumar sent his fraudulent email to Future Fractal’s
investors (March 14, 2024), Kumar separately texted a Future Fractal investor, blaming the loss
on Index-Based ETF A trades. Kumar’s statement in this text to the investor was not true. The
98% drawdown was not caused by trading in Index-Based ETF A options.
C. Kumar Defrauded Arcane’s Investors.
40. In May 2024, Kumar started raising additional investor funds for what would later
become Arcane. Kumar solicited investors with additional false and misleading representations
to existing and prospective investors regarding Arcane’s investment strategy, Arcane’s returns,
and the use of Arcane investor funds.
1. Kumar Misrepresented Arcane’s Investment Strategy and Future Fractal’s
Prior Returns.
41. In July and August 2024, an Arcane investor collectively invested more than
$450,000 in Arcane. During May and June 2024, in oral communications soliciting this
investor’s funds, Kumar represented that the maximum risk of loss was 10-20% of Arcane’s
capital, while at least 80% of Arcane’s assets would be held in cash. Kumar further provided the
investor with offering materials—including a PPM and a Pitch Deck—setting forth Arcane’s
mathematical arbitrage strategy. The investment strategy detailed how Arcane would
purportedly invest in crypto assets based on Kumar’s proprietary algorithm, which, in turn, had
purportedly analyzed an extensive dataset that adhered to the Arcane’s mathematical framework.
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Kumar claimed to have conducted over 100,000 simulations with each one of them
demonstrating “zero cases of principal loss.” In the offering materials provided to investors and
prospective investors, Kumar represented that the “[w]orst case expected return” was 1.2x the
value of their investment, which Kumar represented as a 17% gain on investment.
42. Kumar also told the investor that he had run another fund—presumably Future
Fractal, because that was the only other fund that Kumar had run—which did not yield the
returns he had hoped for, yielding a positive return of only between 30-40%. However, as
detailed in paragraphs 25 to 32 above, after he transferred the Future Fractal assets into personal
accounts he controlled, Kumar lost approximately 98% of the remaining assets.
43. Kumar provided Arcane’s investors with weekly commentaries on the profit-and-
loss status of their investments. From Arcane’s first weekly correspondence with investors in
early September 2024 through January 20, 2025, Kumar reported, with an occasional minor dip,
an upward trend of positive returns for Arcane, culminating with news of a net cumulative gain
of 33.07%. However, on January 30, 2025, Kumar told investors that Arcane was down in value
approximately 10% of its assets. Less than two weeks later, during the week of February 11,
2025, Kumar informed Arcane’s investors that Arcane had a negative cumulative return of
22.17%. Kumar further reported that this loss was due to a “shift in strategy” he made the week
before to invest mostly in meme coins.
44. According to at least one investor, Kumar did not tell investors that he was going
to change the Arcane’s strategy. This investor called Kumar and then learned for the first time
that Arcane might be at least 70% long in illiquid meme coins. The investor demanded that
Kumar disclose to all Arcane investors exactly what Arcane’s investments were. In response,
Kumar told the investor that Arcane’s exact holdings were confidential and proprietary, and that
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he would not disclose the holdings. By March 11, 2025, Kumar reported to investors that
Arcane was down approximately 80%.
2. Kumar Used Arcane Assets to Pay Future Fractal Investors.
45. In Arcane’s PPM, Kumar represented to investors that approximately 99% of
investor funds would be used for investments with approximately 1% to be used for professional
(e.g., legal, audit, tax) and operational expenses. Kumar knew, or was reckless in not knowing,
that these representations were false.
46. Kumar commingled Arcane investor funds with Future Fractal investor funds in a
bank account in the name of Future Fractal that Kumar had previously opened in February 2024.
Arcane investor funds were then used for unauthorized purposes, including to make an
unauthorized payment to a Future Fractal investor. For example, financial statements and
Kumar’s sworn testimony confirm that, on November 4, 2024, within just days of receiving the
$450,000 principal investment from an Arcane investor, Kumar paid $300,000 of those investor
funds to a Future Fractal investor who had requested his principal back following Future
Fractal’s collapse. Previously, on November 2, 2024, in text messages to the Future Fractal
investor that he repaid, Kumar lied about the source of the reimbursements, telling the Future
Fractal investor that the source of funds came from trading in meme coins. In addition, Kumar
used $20,000 of Arcane investor funds to satisfy debt Kumar owed to a third party that was
unaffiliated with either of the Funds.
47. As a result of his conduct, Kumar misappropriated more than $5.6 million Future
Fractal assets and more than $1.3 million Arcane assets by transferring these Funds’ assets to
personal accounts he controlled. Kumar has repaid approximately $681,000 to investors.
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V.
CLAIMS FOR RELIEF
FIRST CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Violations of Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and Rule
10b-5 thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5]
48. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates paragraphs 1-47 of this Complaint by
reference as if set forth verbatim in this Claim.
49. By engaging in the acts and conduct alleged herein, Defendant Kumar, directly or
indirectly, in connection with the purchase or sale of securities, by the use of any means or
instrumentality of interstate commerce, or of the mails or of any facility of any national securities
exchange, knowingly or with recklessness:
a. employed a device, scheme, or artifice to defraud; and/or
b. made an untrue statement of material fact, or omitted to state a material fact
necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
under which they were made, not misleading; and/or
c. engaged in an act, practice, or course of business which operated or would
operate as a fraud or deceit upon any person.
50. By reason of the foregoing, Defendant Kumar violated, and unless restrained and
enjoined will continue to violate, Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. § 78j(b)] and
Rule 10b-5 thereunder [17 C.F.R. §§ 240.10b-5].
SECOND CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. §77q(a)]
51. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates paragraphs 1-47 of this Complaint by
reference as if set forth verbatim in this Claim.
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52. By engaging in the acts and conduct alleged herein, Defendant Kumar, directly or
indirectly, in the offer or sale of securities, by use of the means or instruments of transportation or
communication in interstate commerce or by the use of the mails, has:
a. knowingly or with recklessness employed a device, scheme, or artifice to
defraud; and/or
b. knowingly, with recklessness, or negligently obtained money or property by
means of an untrue statement of a material fact or an omission to state a material
fact necessary in order to make the statements made, in light of the
circumstances under which they were made, not misleading; and/or
c. knowingly, with recklessness, or negligently engaged in a transaction, practice,
or course of business which operated or would operate as a fraud or deceit upon
the purchaser.
53. By reason of the foregoing, Defendant Kumar has violated, and unless restrained
and enjoined will continue to violate, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)].
THIRD CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Violations of Sections 206(1) and (2) of the Advisers Act
[15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-6(1) and 80b-6(2)]
54. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates paragraphs 1-47 of this Complaint by
reference as if set forth verbatim in this Claim.
55. At all relevant times, Defendant Kumar was an investment adviser under Advisers
Act Section 202(a)(11) [15 U.S.C. § 80b-2(a)(11)]. As such, Kumar owed the Funds a fiduciary
duty of utmost good faith and had an affirmative duty to make full and fair disclosures of all
material facts, as well as a duty to act in the Funds’ best interests.
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56. By engaging in the conduct described above, Kumar, while acting as an investment
adviser, by use of the mails or any means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, directly or
indirectly: (a) knowingly or with recklessness employed a device, scheme, or artifice to defraud
any client or prospective client, and (b) knowingly, with recklessness, or negligently engaged in a
transaction, practice, or course of business which operated as a fraud or deceit upon any client or
prospective client.
57. By reason of the foregoing, Kumar has violated, and unless restrained and
enjoined will continue to violate, Sections 206(1) and (2) of the Advisers Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-
6(1) and (2)].
FOURTH CLAIM FOR RELIEF
Violations of Sections 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-8) thereunder
[15 U.S.C. § 80b-6(4) and 17 C.F.R. § 275.206(4)-8]
58. Plaintiff re-alleges and incorporates paragraphs 1-47 of this Complaint by
reference as if set forth verbatim in this Claim.
59. At all relevant times, Defendant Kumar was an investment adviser under Advisers
Act Section 202(a)(11) [15 U.S.C. § 80b-2(a)(11)].
60. Future Fractal is a “pooled investment vehicle” as defined in Rule 206(4)-8(b) [17
C.F.R. § 275.206(4)-8(b)].
61. Defendant, while acting as an investment adviser, by use of the mails or any
means or instrumentality of interstate commerce, directly or indirectly, engaged in acts practices,
or courses of business which were fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative. Defendant, directly or
indirectly, knowingly, recklessly, or negligently: (a) made untrue statements of material fact or
omitted to state material facts necessary to make the statements made, in the light of the
circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, to investors or prospective investors
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in a pooled investment vehicle; or (b) otherwise engaged in acts, practices, or courses of business
that were fraudulent, deceptive, or manipulative with respect to investors or prospective investors
in a pooled investment vehicle.
62. By reason of the foregoing, Defendant has violated, and unless restrained and
enjoined will continue to violate, Section 206(4) of the Advisers Act and Rule 206(4)-8
thereunder. [15 U.S.C. § 80b-6(4); 17 C.F.R. § 275.206(4)-8].
PRAYER FOR RELIEF
WHEREFORE, the Commission respectfully requests that the Court enter a Judgment:
63. Permanently restraining and enjoining Defendant Kumar from violating Section
17(a) of the Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77q(a)], Section 10(b) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C.
§ 78j(b)] and Rule 10b-5 thereunder [17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5], and Sections 206(1), (2), and (4) of
the Advisers Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-6(1) and (2)] and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder [17 C.F.R.
§ 275.206(4)-8];
64. Restraining and enjoining Defendant Kumar, for a period of five years, from:
(i) directly or indirectly, including, but not limited to, through any entity owned or controlled by
him, participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security, provided, however,
that such injunction shall not prevent him from purchasing or selling securities for his own
personal account; and (ii) directly or indirectly acting as or being associated with any investment
adviser, pursuant to Sections 21(d)(1) and 21(d)(5) of the Exchange Act, Section 20(b) of the
Securities Act, and Section 209(d) of the Advisers Act. For purposes of this paragraph, a person
is associated with an investment adviser if such person is a partner, officer, or director of such
investment adviser (or performs similar functions), or directly or indirectly controls or is
controlled by such investment adviser, including any employee of such investment adviser;
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65. Ordering Defendant Kumar to disgorge all ill-gotten gains he received as a result
of the conduct alleged herein, together with pre-judgment interest on those amounts, pursuant to
Sections 21(d)(3), 21(d)(5) and 21(d)(7) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C. §§ 78u(d)(3), 78u(d)(5),
and 78u(d)(7)];
66. Ordering Defendant Kumar to pay a civil penalty pursuant to Section 20(d) of the
Securities Act [15 U.S.C. § 77t(d)], Section 21(d)(3) of the Exchange Act [15 U.S.C.
§ 78u(d)(3)], and Section 209(e) of the Advisers Act [15 U.S.C. § 80b-9(e)]; and
67. Granting such other and further relief as this Court may determine to be just and
necessary.
Dated: March 26, 2026 Respectfully submitted,
/s/ Patrick Disbennett
Patrick Disbennett
Securities and Exchange Commission
Fort Worth Regional Office
801 Cherry Street, Suite 1900
Fort Worth, Texas 76102
Phone: (817) 978-6442
Email: [email protected]
ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFF SECURITIES
AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
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