Faiz M. Chowdhury, DTI Holdings, Inc., and Quantum Age Corporation
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Litigation Release No. 25835 / September 19, 2023
Securities and Exchange Commission v. Faiz M. Chowdhury, DTI Holdings, Inc., and Quantum Age Corporation, No. 8:23-cv-01741 (C.D. Cal. filed Sept. 19, 2023)
SEC Charges California Resident with Multimillion Dollar Offering Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission announced today that it filed charges against Faiz M. Chowdhury and two entities that he controls, DTI Holdings, Inc. ("DTI") and Quantum Age Corporation ("QAC") (collectively, "Defendants"), for allegedly misappropriating investor funds and perpetrating a multi-year offering fraud, raising over $25 million from more than 50 investors. The SEC's complaint alleges that, since at least 2018, Defendants engaged in a scheme to raise money from investors through a series of material misrepresentations and other deceptive acts. As alleged in the complaint, Defendants told investors they were investing in a global enterprise of groundbreaking, IP-rich, start-up companies, but misled investors about the assets, technologies, and finances of DTI and QAC, as well as Chowdhury's own experience and credentials.
The complaint alleges that Chowdhury falsely presented himself in marketing pitches to potential investors as a Doctor of Science and physicist with degrees from Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Johns Hopkins University. The complaint further alleges that Chowdhury falsely told investors that DTI and QAC were holding companies with numerous subsidiaries, each with intellectual property rights over a variety of technologies, when in fact the purported subsidiaries were not owned or affiliated with DTI or QAC, or were mere shell companies with little or no revenue, assets, or operations. As alleged in the complaint, Chowdhury also told investors he would use their money to fund a vast array of affiliated and subsidiary start-up companies working on game-changing, graphene-based nanotechnologies, including fast-charge batteries, cancer detection and treatment solutions, anti-counterfeiting devices, and snake-venom antidotes. The complaint alleges that, in reality, only a small amount of investor funds was used for business purposes and that Chowdhury used DTI and QAC accounts as a personal piggy bank, making excessive cash withdrawals, funding extravagant trips around the world, transferring funds to various entities he controlled, purchasing luxury items for himself and his family, and indulging in gambling and leisure.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, charges the Defendants with violating the antifraud and other provisions of the federal securities laws. Specifically, the SEC complaint alleges that Chowdhury, DTI, and QAC violated 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. The complaint also alleges aiding and abetting and control person liability violations against Chowdhury. The SEC's complaint seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties against the Defendants, and an officer-and-director bar against Chowdhury.
The SEC's investigation was conducted by Darren Long and Brian Vann, with the assistance of Dean Conway, and was supervised by Brian Quinn and Carolyn Welshhans. The litigation will be led by Messrs. Conway, Long, and Vann, and will be supervised by James Carlson.