SEC v. Siddhi Patel, as Administrator of the Estate of Chirayu Vijay Patel (Deceased) — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Release No. 26676, dated October 20, 2026.
The SEC charged the estate of Chirayu Vijay Patel with defrauding over 40 investors. Patel allegedly misled investors about investment performance and security, misappropriated $1.2 million for personal use, and lost over $7 million through trading. The estate settled by agreeing to pay disgorgement and prejudgment interest.
Imagine someone promised to invest your money and give you good returns. Instead, they took a big chunk for themselves and lost most of the rest by trading. They even sent fake updates to make it look like everything was fine. The SEC stepped in to stop this and get back what they could for the investors.
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 Files Settled Action Against the Estate of Fund Manager who Allegedly Defrauded Over 40 Investors. On October 19, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission filed settled charges against the estate of Chirayu Vijay Patel, alleging that Patel misled over 40 investors about the performance and security of their investments and misappropriated investor funds for his own personal expenses. According to the SEC’s complaint, Patel solicited investments in two offerings, one in which Patel promised investors fixed returns of 6% per year, and the other in which he described as having a higher risk-return profile and target returns of 20% per year. The complaint alleges that between around July 2020 and November 2025, Patel pooled together approximately $10 million that he obtained from investors through the offerings, misappropriated approximately $1.2 million for personal expenses, returned approximately $1.5 million to some investors through Ponzi-like payments, and lost over $7 million through trading. The complaint further alleges that Patel repeatedly provided investors with false and misleading account statements and false rates of return, leading them to believe that he was generating profits when in fact he had lost or misappropriated nearly all of their money. The SEC’s complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, charges Patel 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. Without admitting the allegations in the SEC’s complaint, the administrator of Patel’s estate consented to the entry of a final judgment, subject to court approval, which would order the estate to pay disgorgement of $1,204,597.77 plus prejudgment interest of $198,497.46.