An in-house judge for the Securities and Exchange Commission has permanently barred from the industry Peter Eichler Jr., Aletheia Research & Management's co-founder, CEO, chairman and chief investment officer, the agency announced Friday.
Aletheia sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2012, the same year the SEC brought civil charges against the firm for violations of the anti-fraud, disclosure and internal controls requirements of the Investment Advisors Act of 1940 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In May 2015, Mr. Eichler was ordered to disgorge $1.65 million, and pay a $1.65 million penalty, plus interest to settle charges that he misallocated profitable trades to favored accounts and other trading improprieties.
Administrative Law Judge Carol Fox Foelak said in the order announcing the initial decision “that all material facts” were already decided against Mr. Eichler in the civil case on which the proceeding was based.
“It is well established that the commission does not permit a respondent to relitigate issues that were addressed in a previous civil proceeding against the respondent, whether resolved by summary judgment, by consent, or after a trial,” Ms. Foelak wrote in the order, which noted that Mr. Eichler opposed the ban.