SEC bars former dual-registrant rep for ripping off clients

Markan solicited approximately ten of his brokerage customers from three separate states to invest, collectively, approximately $2.9 million in a purported private equity fund. Markan falsely told the investors that a well-known New York private equity firm advised the fund and provided investors a sham prospectus to describe the offering. In reality, the fund did not exist, the fund was not associated with the New York private equity firm, and Markan misappropriated most of the investors’ money