The SEC has brought a case against Long Island-based The Spaventa Group, alleging that pre-IPO sales raised more than $74 million, first reported by Fortune. The case puts the scale in stark terms: over 800 people invested, including over 100 retirees, and the SEC alleges a 46% average premium over what Spaventa’s companies paid for the positions.
The SEC complaint, filed Friday in the Southern District of New York, alleges that former broker Andrew Spaventa and his firm deployed more than 100 agents to make thousands of calls. The agents allegedly marketed shares in private companies including Anduril, Anthropic, Perplexity and SpaceX before its IPO, with the money raised for 11 private funds run from offices on Long Island and New Jersey.
Most buyers were retail investors. More than 650 invested $100,000 or less, while over 100 were retirees, according to the SEC’s allegations. The SEC alleges that investors paid 46% more on average than Spaventa’s own companies paid to get the positions, with the premium reaching 91% in some cases.
The central tension is a promise that investors would avoid unnecessary fees alongside alleged markups large enough to average 46%. The scale also exceeds the SEC’s case this year against Giovanni Pennetta, who was accused of misappropriating $10 million in investor funds while selling fraudulent shares in companies including Anduril; Pennetta later pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
The allegations emerged amid an AI-fueled run-up in private markets and a massive, unregulated secondary market. Spaventa denied the SEC’s claims when reached by phone.