Court Shuts Down Faux SRI Fund Site
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced that U.S. District Court Judge Joseph DiClerico Jr. in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire took the actions against FairPax.com and five other defendants identified as John Does.
According to the SEC’s lawsuit, the fraudulent FairPax.com, FairPax, Inc., and the unidentified individuals simply took the description of its mutual fund verbatim from the high yield mutual fund offered by the New Hampshire-based Pax World, a legitimate fund company offering social responsible investing. The defendants promised an annual return of 675%, the SEC claimed.
The SEC court action seeks an order barring the defendants from continuing to violate federal securities laws, to return ill-gotten gains, and to pay a civil fine.