SEC obtains emergency relief against investment advisor

The Securities and Exchange Commission has announced it has charged former broker Surage Kamal Roshan Perera and his firm, Janues Capital Incorporated, with defrauding at least one investor out of millions by lying about investment opportunities and strategies, concealing trading losses, and using funds received from others to give the victim the promised returns in Ponzi-like fashion. The SEC has obtained emergency relief in court, including a temporary restraining order and an asset freeze.

According to the SEC’s complaint, from February 2022 until March 2023, Perera, a Long Island, NY resident, falsely told an investor, not named in the complaint, that Janues had access to specific restricted securities at discounted prices through connections with large, institutional investors. He allegedly claimed to also exercise a trading strategy, which he referred to as ‘Options Straddles,’ that would not only prevent any trading losses but also guarantee returns on some of the investments of up to 9 percent with the potential for returns of 50 percent.

The complaint also alleges Perera and Janues misappropriated at least $3.5 million of the investor’s funds to engage in highly speculative and leveraged trading. In total, Perera engaged in more than $2.5 billion in securities transactions, with nearly $3 million in trading losses. Perera then allegedly concealed the misappropriation and losses by providing the investor with phony confirmations and account statements that falsely showed the expected returns. The complaint also alleges that Perera further attempted to hide the losses by using funds received from other sources to make Ponzi-like payments to the investor.