The United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has taken action against Ann M. Vick, a founder of AMV Investments LLC.
According to the SEC’s complaint filed in the Colorado District Court on October 25, 2021, beginning in approximately August 2018, investment adviser Vick, directly and through AMV, an entity that she formed and controls, raised at least $3.2 million from more than two dozen investors by representing that she is an extraordinarily successful stock options trader and would safely use investor funds to generate promised monthly interest payments ranging from 5-10% (60-120% annually).
In reality, Vick’s options trading results were a volatile mix of gains and losses and she had never generated the consistent profits necessary to pay investors the returns she promised.
Vick commingled money she raised from AMV investors with personal funds. From approximately December 2019 through March 2020, Vick suffered disastrous trading loses, and misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars of investor money. Moreover, lacking profits from trading, Vick also began using investors’ principal to pay other investors monthly interest payments and redemptions of principal.
Even after suffering massive trading losses, Vick raised approximately $1.3 million in new investor funds from May 2020 to January 2021 by falsely claiming that her stock options trading was wildly profitable and safe, misrepresenting how she would use investor money, and failing to disclose that AMV was effectively insolvent as a result of her trading losses and misappropriation.
The SEC alleges that, as a result of the conduct described in this Complaint, Vick violated Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 (“Securities Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 77q(a); Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (“Exchange Act”), 15 U.S.C. § 78j(b) and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, 17 C.F.R. § 240.10b-5; and Sections 206(1), 206(2), 206(4) and Rule 206(4)-8 of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (“Advisers Act”), 15 U.S.C. §§ 80b-6(1), 80b-6(2), 80b-6(4), and 17 C.F.R. § 275.206(4)-8.
The regulator warns that, unless restrained and enjoined, Vick will continue to violate the federal securities laws.