Christopher R. Bentley, et al.

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 26025 /June 13, 2024

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Christopher R. Bentley, et al., No. 4:22-cv-02722 (S.D. Tex. filed Aug. 16, 2022)

SEC Obtains Final Judgment Against Bellatorum Resources, LLC and its CEO Christopher Bentley

On May 30, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, entered a final judgment against Bellatorum Resources, LLC and its CEO, Christopher R. Bentley of Tomball, Texas.

As alleged in the SEC’s complaint filed on August 16, 2022, from February 2019 until April 2021, Bentley orchestrated a multimillion-dollar fraud and misappropriated investor funds through his control of Bellatorum, which acted as an investment adviser for three private investment funds. Through his control of Bellatorum, Bentley raised approximately $31.5 million from approximately 149 investors.

On August 22, 2022, the court entered a partial judgment against Defendants, permanently enjoining them from violating the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws and imposing an officer-and-director bar. The partial judgment deferred the determination of the amounts of disgorgement, prejudgment interest, and civil penalties to a future date. Thereafter, without denying the SEC’s allegations, Defendants consented to the entry of a final judgment that ordered Defendants to pay, jointly and severally, disgorgement of $13,131,470 plus prejudgment interest of $963,727.07, for a total of $14,095,197.07, and deemed the payment of such amounts satisfied by the judgment in United States v. Christopher Russell Bentley, Crim. No. 4:22-cr-400 (S.D. Tex. [Houston]). The final judgment, which the Court entered on May 30, 2024, did not include a civil penalty in light of the term of imprisonment against Bentley in the parallel criminal case.

The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Christopher W. Ahart and Ayesha Ahmed of the SEC’s Fort Worth Regional Office, under the supervision of Jim Etri and B. David Fraser. The litigation was led by Jennifer D. Reece and supervised by Keefe Bernstein. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.