U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 25938 / February 6, 2024
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Auerbach et al., No. 1:19-cv-5631 (E.D.N.Y. filed October 4, 2019)
SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Defendant for Role in Bribery Scheme
On February 5, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a final judgment against defendant Jeffrey Auerbach, whom the SEC previously charged for his role in a fraudulent scheme to bribe a stockbroker to buy a company’s stock in his customers’ accounts without the customers’ knowledge.
The SEC’s complaint was filed on October 4, 2019, in federal district court in the Eastern District of New York. From approximately July 2014 through October 2015, Auerbach and another defendant allegedly entered into “consulting agreements” with the CEO of Nxt-ID, Inc., a publicly-traded security technology company. The SEC alleged these agreements were actually a guise through which Auerbach funneled cash bribes from the CEO to another defendant, a registered stockbroker, to buy Nxt-ID stock in customers’ accounts.
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, Auerbach consented to entry of a final judgment permanently enjoining him from violations of the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The final judgment orders disgorgement of $3,000.00, representing Auerbach’s ill-gotten gains as a result of the conduct alleged in the SEC’s complaint, together with prejudgment interest of $5,846, but it deems the obligation to pay these amounts satisfied by the entry of the restitution order against Auerbach in the parallel criminal action filed against Auerbach based on the same conduct alleged in the SEC’s complaint, United States v. Auerbach, 19 Cr. 607 (E.D.N.Y.). The final judgment does not impose civil penalties in light of Auerbach’s conviction and sentence in the criminal proceeding.
The litigation is being led by Lindsay S. Moilanen and Mary Kay Dunning and supervised by Tejal D. Shah.