SEC v. William Sarris and Joseph Endoso — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Release No. 26672, dated October 9, 2026.
The SEC charged William Sarris and Joseph Endoso, former executives of Linqto, Inc., for allegedly defrauding thousands of retail investors. They are accused of misrepresenting prices, availability of pre-IPO company shares, and the nature of their pricing algorithms, leading to over $430 million in sales of special purpose vehicles.
Imagine you're buying a rare collectible online. The sellers told you the price was fair and that items were almost sold out to make you rush to buy. In reality, they were overcharging you and still had plenty of items left. They also claimed a computer set the prices, but they were actually changing them themselves. This happened to thousands of people buying shares in private companies.
Disclaimer: all facts are drawn from the SEC's own filings; the claims described are allegations unless and until a court rules or the parties settle, and some cases end in dismissal.
SEC Charges Executives with Allegedly Defrauding Thousands of Retail Investors Seeking Exposure to Pre-IPO Companies. On October 9, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged William Sarris and Joseph Endoso, both former executives of San Jose, California-based Linqto, Inc., alleging that they misled and deceived investors who used Linqto’s online platform to invest in pre-IPO “unicorn” companies. According to the SEC’s complaint, from at least 2021 to 2024, a Linqto subsidiary sold over $430 million of special purpose vehicles, which held interests in private companies, to retail investors. During that period, Sarris and Endoso allegedly misled and defrauded investors by: (i) falsely indicating that Linqto’ s prices reflected current market conditions or below-market prices, when, in reality, almost all its offerings were priced higher than fair value; (ii) representing that certain securities were “sold out” or “fully subscribed” when Linqto actually had additional shares available for sale; (iii) claiming that an algorithm automatically set certain prices on Linqto’s platform and that the prices would rise and fall dynamically based on investor demand when, in fact, Linqto personnel continued to set prices manually; and (iv) touting to investors that Linqto was compliant with federal securities laws despite having been told by their counsel that Linqto’s business violated federal securities regulations. The complaint also alleges that Sarris and Endoso unlawfully operated unregistered investment companies and unlawfully sold securities in unregistered transactions to unaccredited investors through Linqto’s subsidiary. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, charges Sarris and Endoso with violating 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, as well as aiding and abetting Linqto’s violations of those same provisions. The complaint further charges Sarris and Endoso with violating Sections 5(a) and 5(c) of the Securities Act and aiding and abetting violations of Section 7(a) of the Investment Company Act of 1940. Additionally, the complaint charges Sarris with control person liability under Section 20(a) of the Exchange Act. The SEC seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, civil penalties, and officer and director bars against both Sarris and Endoso. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Anthony Moreno and Matthew Meyerhofer and supervised by Ruth Hawley and Jason H. Lee, all of the SEC’s San Francisco Regional Office. The SEC’s litigation will be led by Mr. Moreno and Mr. Meyerhofer and supervised by Jason Bussey. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York and the FBI.