On May 26, 2017, the Commission instituted and simultaneously settled administrative and cease-and-desist proceedings (the “Order”) against Laurence I. Balter d/b/a Oracle Investment Research (the “Respondent”). In the Order, the Commission found that that the Respondent, a former registered investment adviser to the Oracle Mutual Fund (the "Fund"), committed multiple breaches of fiduciary duty and violations of the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws from January 2011 to April 2014: 1) he fraudulently allocated profitable trades to his own accounts to the detriment of several client accounts; 2) he falsely told his clients who invested in the Fund that they would not pay both advisory fees and management fees for the portions of their accounts invested in the Fund; and 3) he made trades for the Fund that deviated from two of its fundamental investment limitations. The Commission ordered the Respondent to pay $489,921 in disgorgement, $10,079 in prejudgment interest, and a $50,000 civil money penalty, for a total of $550,000, to the Commission. The Commission also created a Fair Fund, pursuant to Section 308(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, so the penalty paid, along with the disgorgement and interest paid, can be distributed to harmed investors (the “Fair Fund”). See the Commission’s Order: Release No. 33-10367.

The Fair Fund includes the $550,000.00 paid by the Respondent. The Fair Fund and has been deposited in an interest-bearing account at the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service, and any interest accrued will be added to the Fair Fund.

On December 29, 2021, 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 provides the public with 30 days to submit their comments on the Proposed Plan. See the Commission’s Notice: Release No. 34-93872 and the Proposed Plan.

The Proposed Plan provides that the distribution of the Fair Fund shall be made to investors based on their losses due to the misconduct of the Respondent as calculated by the methodology used in the Plan of Allocation in the Plan.

On May 5, 2022, the Commission issued an order approving the Proposed Plan and simultaneously posted the approved Plan of Distribution (the “Plan”). See the Commission’s Order: Release No. 34-94857 and the approved Plan.

On March 8, 2023, the Commission issued an order approving the disbursement of $463,295.94 from the Fair Fund for distribution to harmed investors in accordance with the Plan.  See the Commission’s Order: Release No. 34-97083.

For more information, please contact the Commission:

Office of Distributions
Email: ENFOfficeofDistributions@sec.gov