The SEC has charged the owner of Simran Capital Management, a Chicago-based investment advisory firm, with lying to the California Public Employees' Retirement System (Calpers) about the amount of money the firm managed.
The SEC has barred Umesh Tandon, the owner of Simran, from working for or associating with any broker/dealer or registered investment company and ordered him to pay $121,698 in penalties and interest. Tandon, who was previously a resident of Chicago and now resides in Texas, did not admit or deny the charges but has agreed to the settlement.
Calpers requires a minimum of $200 million in assets under management for the investment firms it deals with. Tandon intentionally misrepresented that Simran had more than $200 million in AUM when in fact the firm had $80 million at the end of 2007, the SEC says. Simran obtained business from Calpers.
Tandon, sole owner, president and chief compliance officer of Simran, also filed false information with the SEC and misled SEC examiners during a routine examination.
“Tandon deliberately undermined the Calpers screening process by grossly misrepresenting his firm’s purported assets under management,” says Merri Jo Gillette, director of the SEC’s Chicago regional office. “To make matters worse, he then used his association with Calpers to lure other public institutional investors under false pretenses.”
According to the SEC order, Tandon touted Simran’s relationship with Calpers to other prospective clients between 2008 and 2011 and advised other employees of Simran to do the same.
In February 2012, Simran withdrew its SEC registration as an investment advisor and has since ceased operations.