The Securities and Exchange Commission announced on Friday, February 13th that it had charged Moazzam “Mark” Malik with falsely claiming to operate a hedge fund with approximately $100 million in assets under management, and soliciting investors with promises of consistently high returns. The SEC notes that Malik manged to con $840,774 out of investors, but his so-called fund never made any real investments. Moreover, the supposed investment accounts never held more than $90,177 in assets as Malik regularly withdrew cash from the account to spend on himself.
Repeated demands from investors for the return of their investment funds has been useless, as Malik has refused or delayed nearly all redemption requests. SEC investigators discovered Malik even created a fictitious fund employee who sent an investor an e-mail message stating that Malik had passed away.
Statement from SEC
“By pretending to be a successful hedge fund manager, Moazzam Malik conned investors into bankrolling his lavish lifestyle,” noted Andrew M. Calamari, Director of the SEC’s New York Regional Office. “Besides luxury travel, dining, and jewelry, investor funds paid for Malik’s continuing education courses at Harvard and his subscription to a matrimonial matching website.
Fund changed names four times in four years and change
The SEC’s complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New York points out that Malik has been continuing to solicit investors despite the multiple redemption requests. Also of note, his fund has changed names four times since it was founded in 2010. Its original name was Wall Street Creative Partners, then he changed it to Seven Sages Capital LP and then to American Bridge Investment Group LLC. The fund is known as Wolf Hedge LLC today.
Ironically, Moazzam Malik claimed his fund was “a privately held Global Investment Management firm dedicated to the individuals and institutions around the world.”
Moazzam Malik created fictitious employee
The court filings also highlight that Malik mentioned a fictitious employee named “Amanda Ebert” with the title of “Investor Relations, Wolf Hedge LLC” in e-mail messages to several fund investors. Malik even included a purported photograph of Ebert that he found on the Internet. The woman in the photo does not know Malik and did not authorize the use of her image.
