On August 17, 2015, the Commission instituted and simultaneously settled administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings (the “Order”) against Citigroup Alternative Investments LLC and Citigroup Global Markets Inc. (collectively, the “Respondents”). In the Order, the Commission found that, between 2002 and 2008, the Respondents violated federal securities laws by making material misstatements and omissions in the offer and sale of securities in two now-defunct hedge funds—the ASTA and MAT funds (“ASTA/MAT”) and the Falcon Strategies funds (“Falcon”). As a result, the Respondents raised approximately $2.898 billion from approximately 4,000 investors in ASTA/MAT and Falcon and in 2008 both funds collapsed resulting in billions of dollars in losses. The Commission ordered, and the Respondents have paid, a total of $179,562,328.00 in disgorgement and prejudgment interest to the Commission (the “Distribution Fund”). See the Commission’s Order: Release No. 33-9893.

On October 29, 2015, the Commission issued an order appointing Damasco & Associates LLP (“Damasco”) as the Tax Administrator of the Fair Fund. Damasco was acquired by Miller Kaplan Arase LLP and on June 30, 2017, the Commission issued a notice of name change for the Tax Administrator.

On April 14, 2016, the Commission issued an order appointing Garden City Group, as the Fund Administrator to oversee the administration and distribution of the Distribution Fund and, set the administrator’s bond amount. See the Commission’s Order: Release No. 34-77624.

On September 11, 2017, the Commission published a notice of the proposed plan of distribution and opportunity for comment and simultaneously published the proposed plan of distribution (“Proposed Plan”). The notice provided the public with 30 days to submit their comments on the Proposed Plan. See the Commission’s Notice: Release No. 34-81570 and the Proposed Plan.

The Proposed Plan provides that the distribution of the Distribution Fund shall be made to the harmed investors of the six Eligible Funds (see Table 2 in the Plan of Allocation). Each Eligible Investor’s distribution payment will be calculated on a pro rata basis within each fund and will be determined by multiplying the amount allocated to the Eligible Fund by the investor’s Investment Amount in the Eligible Fund to the fund’s Total Investment Amount.

Comments were received on the Proposed Plan during the 30-day comment period. On November 9, 2017, the Commission issued an order extending the time to enter an order approving or disapproving the plan of distribution to February 12, 2018 to allow for further evaluation and analysis to properly address the comments. On February 9, 2018, the Commission issued another order extending the time to enter an order approving or disapproving the Proposed Plan until March 30, 2018. 

On April 27, 2018, the Commission issued an order approving the Proposed Plan as modified therein and published the approved Plan of Distribution (the "Plan"). See the Commission's Order: Release. No. 34-83123 and the Plan.

On September 18, 2019, the Commission issued an order directing the disbursement of $184,864,153 from the Distribution Fund to the Fund Administrator for distribution to Eligible Investors in accordance with the Plan. See the Commission’s Order: Release No. 34-87000.

For more information, please contact the Fund Administrator:

Garden City Group
Telephone Number: 800-327-3664
Website: www.gardencitygroup.com
Email: info@choosegcg.com