SEC Obtains Order of Permanent Injunctions Against Chicago-Area Investment Adviser and Its Owners for Fraud
The Securities and Exchange Commission (Commission) announced that on December 19, 2013, Judge Charles P. Kocoras of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois entered an order of permanent injunctions against Oakbrook, Illinois resident Patrick G. Rooney (Rooney) and his company Solaris Management, LLC (Solaris).
According to the SEC's complaint filed on November 16, 2011, Rooney and Solaris radically changed the investment strategy of the Solaris Opportunity Fund LP (the Fund), contrary to the Fund's offering documents and marketing materials, by becoming wholly invested in Positron Corp. (Positron), a financially troubled microcap company. The SEC alleges that Rooney, who has been Chairman of Positron since 2004 and received salary and stock options from Positron since September 2005, misused the Fund's money by investing more than $3.6 million in Positron through both private transactions and market purchases. Many of the private transactions were undocumented while other investments were interest-free loans to Positron. Rooney and Solaris hid the Positron investments and Rooney's relationship with the company from the Fund's investors for over four years. Although Rooney finally told investors about the Positron investments in a March 2009 newsletter, the SEC's complaint alleges he falsely told them he became Chairman to safeguard the Fund's investments. These investments benefited Positron and Rooney while providing the Fund with a concentrated, undiversified, and illiquid position in a cash-poor company with a lengthy track record of losses.
Without admitting or denying the Commission's allegations, Rooney and Solaris consented to the entry of permanent injunctions which enjoin them from violating Sections 206(1), 206(2), and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rules 206(4)-8(a)(1) and (a)(2) thereunder; Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933; and Sections 10(b) and 13(d)(1) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5 and 13d-1 thereunder. Rooney and Solaris Management further agreed that the court would determine whether to impose penalties and disgorgement against them and whether Rooney should be prohibited from acting as an officer or director of a public company.
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