SEC v. Bin Hao; and Qidian LLC, No. LR-25867, Southern District of Florida (Sept. 29, 2023) — Press Release
raw: Bin Hao and Qidian LLC
Bin Hao and Qidian LLC, No. 1:23-cv-23704 (Sept. 29, 2023)
summary
The SEC charged Bin Hao and Qidian LLC with operating a $10.3 million Ponzi scheme targeting the Chinese-American community, seeking injunctions and civil penalties.
paragraph
Bin Hao and Qidian LLC allegedly raised approximately $10.3 million from at least 60 investors through unregistered securities offerings. The defendants are charged with violating antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and an officer-and-director bar against Hao.
narrative
The SEC has charged Virginia resident Bin Hao and his company, Qidian LLC, with operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded at least 60 investors across 17 states. Between 2017 and 2020, the defendants allegedly sold unregistered promissory notes and membership interests promising annual returns of 8-25% to fund real estate loans. However, the scheme failed to disclose that the underlying Miami-based real estate company had ceased making interest payments in 2019. Instead, Hao and Qidian used new investor funds to pay prior investors and misappropriated at least $793,267 for Hao's personal expenses. The SEC's complaint alleges violations of antifraud provisions under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The agency is seeking permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of gains, civil penalties, and an officer-and-director bar against Hao.
Classified ponzi(confidence 99%). EDGAR detection: forms Form D· recall 35% / precision 15%. detection rule →
Parties
Securities and Exchange CommissionBin HaoQidian, LLC
Keywords
haoqidiansecurities exchangereal estatesecsecuritiesexchange commissionestate companyllcbinexchangecompanyleastinvestorsvirginia resident
Exhibits & Attached Documents (1)
Extracted insights
Dollar amounts 2
- $10.30M $10.3 million $10M–$100M
- $793K $793,267 $100K–$1M
Entities 14
- person alice sum
- scheme_term a ponzi scheme
- person bin hao
- company bin hao and qidian llc
- person civil penalties
- person glenn s. gordon
- person interest payments
- person Jason R. Berkowitz
- company miami real estate company
- person paul hopker
- person permanent injunctive relief
- company qidian llc
- agency Securities and Exchange Commission
- person teresa j. verges
Triples 15
- Securities And Exchange Commission charged Bin Hao and Qidian LLC
- Bin Hao fraudulently raised approximately $10.3 million
- Bin Hao operated a Ponzi Scheme
- Qidian LLC offered promissory notes and membership interests
- Miami Real Estate Company ceased making interest payments
- Bin Hao misappropriated at least $793,267
- Securities And Exchange Commission seeks permanent injunctive relief
- Securities And Exchange Commission seeks disgorgement of allegedly ill-gotten gains
- Securities And Exchange Commission seeks civil penalties
- Securities And Exchange Commission seeks an officer-and-director bar against Bin Hao
- Paul Hopker conducted the investigation
- Jason R. Berkowitz supervised the investigation
- Glenn S. Gordon supervised the investigation
- Alice Sum led the litigation
- Teresa J. Verges supervised the litigation
PDF (from attached: complaint)
Text layers
Extracted body text (2,344c)
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 25867 / September 29, 2023 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bin Hao and Qidian LLC, No. 1:23-cv-23704 (S.D. Fla. filed September 28, 2023) SEC Charges Virginia Resident with Operating a Ponzi Scheme that Targeted Chinese-American Community The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Virginia resident Bin Hao and his company Qidian LLC, alleging that they fraudulently raised approximately $10.3 million from at least 60 investors in at least 17 states through an unregistered securities offering to members of the Chinese-American community, predominately in Virginia and Maryland. The SEC’s complaint alleges that, from at least 2017 to 2020, Hao, through Qidian, offered and sold promissory notes and membership interests to investors with high annual return rates of 8-25% to facilitate providing loans to a Miami-based real estate company. As alleged, starting in January 2019, the Miami real estate company ceased making nearly all interest payments to Qidian. Nevertheless, Qidian and Hao continued to solicit investors and raised approximately $10.3 million by promising the same high annual rates of return and to use the funds for real estate loans, while failing to disclose the Miami real estate company’s financial condition. In addition, as alleged in the complaint, Qidian and Hao used millions of dollars of new investor money to pay prior investors in Ponzi-like fashion, and Hao misappropriated at least $793,267 to pay personal expenses. The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, charges Hao and Qidian LLC with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of allegedly ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, civil penalties against each of the defendants and an officer-and-director bar against Hao. The SEC’s investigation was part of the Miami Regional Office’s Fraud Against Minority Groups Initiative and was conducted by Paul Hopker in the Miami Regional Office and supervised by Jason R. Berkowitz and Glenn S. Gordon. The SEC’s litigation will be led by Alice Sum and supervised by Teresa J. Verges. SEC Complaint
OCR text (2,344c · html-text · 99% conf)
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 25867 / September 29, 2023 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bin Hao and Qidian LLC, No. 1:23-cv-23704 (S.D. Fla. filed September 28, 2023) SEC Charges Virginia Resident with Operating a Ponzi Scheme that Targeted Chinese-American Community The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Virginia resident Bin Hao and his company Qidian LLC, alleging that they fraudulently raised approximately $10.3 million from at least 60 investors in at least 17 states through an unregistered securities offering to members of the Chinese-American community, predominately in Virginia and Maryland. The SEC’s complaint alleges that, from at least 2017 to 2020, Hao, through Qidian, offered and sold promissory notes and membership interests to investors with high annual return rates of 8-25% to facilitate providing loans to a Miami-based real estate company. As alleged, starting in January 2019, the Miami real estate company ceased making nearly all interest payments to Qidian. Nevertheless, Qidian and Hao continued to solicit investors and raised approximately $10.3 million by promising the same high annual rates of return and to use the funds for real estate loans, while failing to disclose the Miami real estate company’s financial condition. In addition, as alleged in the complaint, Qidian and Hao used millions of dollars of new investor money to pay prior investors in Ponzi-like fashion, and Hao misappropriated at least $793,267 to pay personal expenses. The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, charges Hao and Qidian LLC with violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC seeks permanent injunctive relief, disgorgement of allegedly ill-gotten gains plus prejudgment interest, civil penalties against each of the defendants and an officer-and-director bar against Hao. The SEC’s investigation was part of the Miami Regional Office’s Fraud Against Minority Groups Initiative and was conducted by Paul Hopker in the Miami Regional Office and supervised by Jason R. Berkowitz and Glenn S. Gordon. The SEC’s litigation will be led by Alice Sum and supervised by Teresa J. Verges. SEC Complaint