SEC v. Brent David Willis (2022)

Settled

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In October 2022 the SEC sued Brent Willis, former CEO of NewAge, Inc., over allegedly false public statements and aiding selective disclosure. On March 25, 2026 the District of Colorado entered a consent final judgment with a $175,000 civil penalty, injunctions and a five-year officer-and-director bar.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$175k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$175k

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the complaint on October 18, 2022 as litigation release 25562, filed in the District of Colorado.

The complaint alleges that between 2017 and 2019 Willis drafted or approved misleading releases and made false statements on earnings calls and in interviews, and that the company disclosed material nonpublic information selectively. It charges Section 17(a), Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5, and aiding and abetting Regulation FD and Section 13(a) violations.

Nothing alleges that he traded on inside information, so the insider-trading tag was removed, and the status is filed rather than unknown.

Outcome. SEC Litigation Release 26516 (March 31, 2026) says that on March 25, 2026 the court entered a final consent judgment, without admission or denial. It permanently enjoins Willis from violating Sections 17(a)(2) and (a)(3) of the Securities Act and from aiding and abetting violations of Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act and Regulation FD, orders a civil penalty of $175,000, and imposes a five-year officer-and-director bar. No disgorgement is mentioned. The complaint's allegations about statements from 2017 to 2019 were not adjudicated.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

Timeline

1. 2022-10-18 Litigation release published
2. 2026-03-25 Final consent judgment entered ($175,000 penalty, five-year officer-and-director bar)

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release
• SEC litigation release 26516 (consent judgment)

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Same matter

The library links these 2 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.