The criminal case was filed after Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin brought an administrative action in January 2017 accusing Murakami of operating a Ponzi scheme.
The SEC's case against Chiat remains pending. His lawyer did not respond to a request for comment.
The case is U.S. v. Murakami, U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts, No. 17-cr-10346.
This article was provided by Reuters.