SEC secures summary judgment against Joseph Cammarata

The SEC has secured summary judgment against former Investview CEO Joseph Cammarata.

Judgment was ordered on two counts of alleged securities fraud on August 31st.

Following his conviction on mail and wire fraud charges in October 2022, Cammarata’s SEC case was reopened in December.

Both Cammarata’s criminal and civil fraud charges pertain to an elaborate recovery scam scheme.

As broken down by the SEC in their June 7th filed Motion for Summary Judgment;

Defendant Joseph Cammarata was convicted of spearheading a massive fraud.

Along with his co-conspirators, Defendants Erik Cohen and David Punturieri, Cammarata stole $40 million from approximately 400 securities litigation distribution funds over a period of seven years.

At Cammarata’s direction, Defendants filed false claims with distribution fund administrators claiming that certain “Sham Clients,” three off-shore companies Defendants controlled, had traded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of various securities and were victims of the underlying securities frauds that ultimately led to the distribution funds.

Defendants knew the Sham Clients had not made the securities trades at issue.

In furtherance of their scheme, among other things, Defendants

-fabricated securities trading records with phony account numbers in the names of the Sham Clients;

-submitted claims in the names of the Sham Clients supported by the fabricated records;

-lied to distribution fund administrators who questioned the submissions;

-impersonated the purported directors of the Sham Clients, posing as directors of the Sham Clients via fake email addresses Defendants’ created and by phone in communications with distribution fund administrators; and

-discussed bribing people to aid the fraud, including bribing one of the employees of the distribution fund administrator who was investigating Defendants’ submissions with $1 million.

In addition, Defendants relied on Cammarata’s industry expertise—particularly his role as a purportedly independent third-party broker who could explain away any concerns articulated by distribution fund administrators—to deceive the distribution fund administrators.

All of the elements of the SEC’s claims are satisfied as a matter of law, and the Court should grant the SEC’s motion for summary judgment.

Following a response filing from Cammarata and reply from the SEC, the court granted the SEC’s Motion for Summary Judgment on August 31st.

Judgement is hereby ENTERED in favor of the Securities and Exchange Commission and against Cammarata as to Cammarata’s liability on both Counts I and II.

Damages, likely to include disgorgement and a civil penalty, are to be determined at a later date.