The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has opened an investigation into what it calls “a potentially fraudulent and unregistered offering of securities” by Ateliere Creative Technologies.
The SEC has asked a California federal district court to enforce an administrative subpoena against Mariana Bortis, who the SEC says “appears to be a large-dollar aggregator for a securities offering that is under SEC investigation for antifraud and registration violations.”
Bortis is believed to be the mother of David Bortis, who Ateliere announced as its CEO earlier this year following the ousting of Dan Goman. However, it is believed Bortis is no longer with the company.
According to an official document from the SEC, it is investigating a link between Ateliere and OwnZones Media Network, Inc., which was previously acquired by Ateliere and against which the SEC previously pursued charges. In 2020, the SEC alleged that OwnZones had engaged in a scheme to “evade federal securities registration requirements by aggregating dozens of individual investments from unaccredited retail investors, and then by repackaging them as direct investments by a small number of nominees”.
The documents add that the SEC’s investigation has “uncovered evidence that Ateliere, despite never having registered a securities offering, has received over $60 million in apparent outside investment since its formation in the spring of 2021”.
“It therefore appears that Ateliere, which was headed by Goman until at least recently, may be engaged in a course of conduct similar to OwnZones’ ‘subinvestor scheme’,” said the SEC.
The full court document is available here.
This is the latest lawsuit against Ateliere. Earlier this month, TVBEurope exclusively revealed that former members of staff have launched legal action in Romania over unpaid wages.
