The SEC today filed and sought court approval for a full settlement of an offering fraud case charging California-based entities Energy & Environmental Investments, LLC ("EEI") and Energy & Environment, Inc. ("E&E) with conducting a fraudulent securities offering that raised $9.3 million from over 200 investors nationwide since August 31, 2012. The complaint also charged EEI's CEO Amir Sardari and his daughter, EEI's former Vice President of Investor Relations Narysa Luddy, for their roles in the offering.

According to the SEC's complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, EEI operated a call center based in Orange County, California, where sales agents employed high-pressure sales tactics to solicit investors to purchase EEI shares. As alleged, defendants claimed they would use investor money to acquire and develop clean energy projects; however, defendants allegedly instead spent approximately $4.42 million, or 47% of investor funds, on the call center's payroll, marketing, and other expenses, including transferring over $1 million to Luddy, who spent the money on personal expenses. The complaint further alleges that defendants used investor funds to pay investor returns in a Ponzi-like scheme.

The SEC action was coordinated with the resolution yesterday of the District Attorney's parallel criminal case against Sardari and Luddy, The People of the State of California v. Sardari, OCDA 01012011, which was previously filed in California Superior Court in Orange County on August 19, 2021. In the criminal case, Defendants Sardari and Luddy each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor violation of Section 25110 of the Corporation Code and set aside payments of more than $500,000 toward disgorgement and restitution.

In the SEC case, Sardari, Luddy, EEI, and E&E consented to the entry of a final judgment, subject to court approval, which would permanently enjoin them from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, prohibit the individual defendants from participating in any unregistered security offerings (with the exception of trading in securities on a national market for their own accounts), and impose officer and director bars. The final judgment, if approved by the court, would also hold EEI liable for payment of $3,414,836 in disgorgement plus $977,949 in prejudgment interest, as well as a $1,035,909 civil penalty. In addition, the final judgment, if approved by the court, would order (1) Luddy to pay $1,009,192 in disgorgement plus $289,015 in prejudgment interest, and (2) E&E to pay a $200,000 civil penalty.

The SEC's Retail Strategy Task Force and Office of Investor Education and Advocacy (OIEA) encourage investors to check the background of anyone selling or offering them an investment using the free and simple search tool on Investor.gov. Investors can also use the SEC's SALI database to find information about certain people who have had judgments or orders issued against them in SEC court actions or administrative proceedings.

The SEC's investigation was conducted by Brittany Garmyn, Cooper Rekrut, and Shipra Wells, and supervised by C. Joshua Felker and Melissa Hodgman. The SEC appreciates the assistance of the Orange County California District Attorney's Office and the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation.