Bloomberg reported in the 2016 article that Statim was being investigated in Georgia, citing a statement from the state’s then secretary of state. The SEC opened its own probe into Statim a week after the story was published, regulatory filings later showed.
It’s unclear how much money Meyer manages. Statim disclosed in an April 2018 regulatory filing that it oversees $32.9 million. But since 2013, Meyer has told some investors that the firm manages several hundred million, according to the SEC. And in April 2015, he told one prospective client that Statim had $1.8 billion, the SEC said.
Meyer said in an interview for the 2016 article that his fund’s returns were driven by a computerized trading system that he’d designed. He also said most the fund’s investments were in Treasury bonds. Statim’s Arjun fund rose 24 percent in 2015, 91 percent in 2014 and 13 percent in 2013, Meyer said in an email at the time.
No Treasuries
Contrary to what he told Bloomberg and prospective clients, the firm didn’t own any Treasuries between late 2013 and August 2016, according to the SEC’s complaint. As of Aug. 31, 2016, a third of the fund was invested in an exchange-traded fund that tracks the spot price of gold and 37 percent was invested in another ETF that tracks three times the performance of the S&P 500, the agency said.
The SEC said Meyer borrowed from the Arjun fund both directly and indirectly for his personal use, employing a series of transactions to obfuscate the loans. Meyer would borrow money from Arjun, marking it as a "receivable" owed by Statim to the fund in order to mask declines in the fund’s net-asset value, according to the regulator.
Though Statim filings dating back to at least 2011 said the firm didn’t charge funds performance fees, the SEC alleged that it actually withdrew $14.3 million in what it called "incentive allocation" between Nov. 2009 and March 2018.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.