Developer Rishi Kapoor Settles With SEC After Being Sued For Defrauding Investors
Rishi Kapoor, the former CEO of development firm Location Ventures, has reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission over an alleged $93M fraud.
Kapoor and the SEC entered into a consent decree where, without admitting to or denying any wrongdoing, the former rising star in Miami’s development scene agreed to pay a future cash judgment and to not serve as an officer for five years at any company that sells securities.
The motion in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida begins to close a yearlong investigation by the SEC that led to the January indictment. It was filed in federal court Wednesday, but the consent decree was signed by Kapoor on July 11.
A federal judge will ultimately determine how much money Kapoor will have to repay investors for what Eric Bustillo, the director of the SEC's Miami Regional Office, characterized when the court case was unsealed in January as “a multi-pronged real estate offering fraud that misappropriated millions from more than 50 investors.”
The agency had charged Kapoor with seven violations of securities law for “shuffling investor funds” to misappropriate at least $6M and lying to investors. The SEC said Kapoor took $4.3M of the allegedly embezzled funds for himself. It also alleged Kapoor falsely told potential investors that he and a partner had made a $13M cash investment into his firm and that he moved cash between the firm’s projects and affiliate firms without proper disclosures to investors.
The embattled developer is still facing investigations from the FBI, IRS and U.S. Attorney’s Office, according to the Miami Herald, which first reported the settlement. His legal troubles have ensnared Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, who was paid $10K a month by Kapoor's firm for consulting services, the Herald reported.
"We are pleased to have reached a settlement in this case between Mr. Kapoor and the SEC regarding liability,” Fred Schwartz, Kapoor’s attorney, said in a statement. “We had a professional and productive relationship with the SEC counsel and are grateful to the Commission for approving the settlement.
“After some minimal discovery there will be a hearing where a United States Judge determine what amount, if any, Mr. Kapoor must disgorge; and the amount, if any, of a civil penalty. Mr. Kapoor expresses his love for and thanks to the United States and looks forward to closing this chapter of his life and moving forward."
Location Ventures began to unravel last May when Greg Brooks, the firm’s former chief financial officer, filed a bombshell lawsuit over back pay.
In the suit, Brooks alleged several financial improprieties, including around $200K in payments to Suarez. Internal company documents filed with the suit indicated Kapoor had leveraged the relationship with Suarez to advance the approval of an apartment project in Coconut Grove.
Brooks secured a $150K settlement with Location Ventures last July, the same month that Kapoor stepped down as CEO of the business and a retired judge was brought in to begin liquidating assets to repay investors.
Kapoor’s assets have been frozen for nearly two years, his 68-foot yacht was seized last November and his home was targeted for foreclosure before Kapoor agreed to sell it to help repay investors.
The SEC didn’t respond to a request for comment Friday.
Several of the firm’s assets have been sold since it began to unwind its holdings last July. In August, a court-appointed receiver sold off an unfinished spec mansion the firm had been developing for $18M. A condo development site in Miami Beach was slated to sell out of court receivership for $18M in September, and a Fort Lauderdale development site was sold for $30M last October.
