(HedgeCo.Net) The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a final judgment against Mohammed Ali Rashid, a former senior partner at Apollo Management L.P., who used client assets to fund his personal lifestyle.

The SEC’s complaint, filed on October 25, 2017, alleged that Rashid allocated personal expenses to private equity funds that he and Apollo advised by misrepresenting the expenses as legitimate business expenses. The complaint alleged that Rashid was reimbursed for approximately $290,000 in personal expenses fraudulently disguised as legitimate business expenses, including a New Year’s trip to Brazil, a friend’s bachelor party and wedding, a flight to the Super Bowl, and numerous dinners with friends and family at high-end Manhattan restaurants.

On September 23, 2020, after a nine-day bench trial at which 33 witnesses testified, the district court found that Rashid had engaged in a pattern of repeatedly, knowingly and falsely describing personal expenses as business expenses and had violated Section 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The court entered a final judgment that permanently enjoins Rashid from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 206(2) of the Advisers Act and orders Rashid to pay a civil penalty of $240,000. Prior to the filing of the SEC’s complaint, Rashid repaid Apollo for the ill-gotten funds and Apollo reimbursed the affected funds.