The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Richard Jonathan Eden with acting as an unregistered broker and violating a previously imposed associational bar arising from his participation in multiple unregistered securities offerings.

According to the allegations in the SEC's complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, both while a potential settlement with the Commission was pending and after an injunction and associational bar were imposed upon him in connection with a separate Commission enforcement action (see Litigation Release No. 24657 (Nov. 4, 2019) and Exchange Act. Rel. No. 87827 (Dec. 20, 2019)), Eden operated as a broker in connection with the securities offerings of multiple issuers while he was neither registered with the Commission as a broker or dealer nor while he was associated with an entity registered with the Commission as a broker or dealer.

The SEC's complaint charges Eden with violations of the broker-dealer registration and associational bar provisions of Sections 15(a)(1) and 15(b)(6)(B)(i) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint also names Eden&Hile, Inc., a business entity associated with Eden, as a relief defendant. The SEC's suit seeks, as remedies, permanent injunctions, disgorgement plus prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by James Thibodeau and Laurie Abbott and was supervised by Tanya Beard. The litigation will be led by Casey Fronk.

The SEC encourages investors to check the background of anyone selling or offering them an investment using the free and simple search tool on Investor.gov.