The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has filed charges against Texas resident Nathan Fuller for orchestrating a fraudulent crypto investment scheme that raised approximately $12.3 million from roughly 150 investors. According to a complaint in the Southern District of Texas, from October 2022 to mid-2024 Fuller operated under Privvy Investments LLC and related business names, offering passive joint-venture interests in a purported high-frequency arbitrage operation powered by proprietary AI trading bots.
The SEC alleges Fuller promised investors unrealistic returns—40% to 50% within 30 to 45 days, and in some cases over 100% in less than a month—while falsely claiming insurance protections and FDIC clearance. In reality, only about $380,000 (3% of total funds) was used to purchase cryptocurrency, with no bot-assisted trading and no profits generated. Instead, Fuller misappropriated at least $6.2 million for personal expenses, including a home purchase, gambling, and luxury items, and deployed $5.5 million to make Ponzi-like payments to sustain the illusion of a functioning operation.
As investor withdrawal concerns grew, Fuller produced fabricated account statements and used AI to generate a fake letter from a purported auditing firm. The SEC charged him with violating registration and antifraud provisions of federal securities laws and seeks permanent injunctions, disgorgement, civil penalties, and a ban on future securities offerings. A separate bankruptcy court ruling previously denied Fuller discharge of over $12.5 million in debt after he admitted the scheme was a Ponzi.
