New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Hedge fund manager Nikolai Battoo is again under investigation, this time for his inappropriate business dealings with Bahamas-based brokerage firm Alliance Investment Management Limited.

The SEC alleges that Julian R. Brown and his firm Alliance Investment Management Limited (AIM) purported to be the “custodian” for assets under the management of Nikolai Battoo.  The SEC obtained a court-ordered freeze over Battoo’s assets after charging him in 2012 with defrauding investors around the world by hiding major losses while falsely boasting that their investments were performing remarkably during the financial crisis.

Brown and AIM allowed Battoo to create false account statements on AIM letterhead that vastly overstated the value of investors’ assets by more than $150 million. Brown and AIM then routinely provided the false account statements to auditors and others acting on behalf of Battoo’s investors.

The SEC further alleges that Brown and AIM permitted Battoo to misappropriate at least $45 million of investor funds by transferring money at Battoo’s behest from investor accounts to Battoo’s direct control. Battoo used investor funds to pay AIM and Brown more than $5 million in return for their critical assistance.

“We allege that Brown and his firm enabled Battoo’s scheme by providing investors with false assurances about who was holding their money and how much money they had in their accounts,” said Timothy Warren, associate director of the SEC’s Chicago Regional Office.

Alex Akesson
Editor For HedgeCo.net
alex@hedgeco.net
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