SEC v. Demitrios Hallas (2017)

Judgment entered

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In April 2017 the SEC sued former broker Demitrios Hallas, alleging he put five unsophisticated customers into leveraged ETFs and ETNs and took more than $170,000 from one of them. He did not defend, and on September 27, 2017 the court entered a default final judgment. It enjoined him and ordered $549,987.64 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties combined.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

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Disgorgement

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Prejudgment interest

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Total relief

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Alleged gain

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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 SEC's complaint, filed April 25, 2017 in the Southern District of New York, alleged that from March 2014 to May 2016 Hallas bought and sold daily leveraged exchange-traded funds and notes in five customers' accounts while knowingly or recklessly disregarding that the products were unsuitable for them. The SEC said this generated about $128,000 in commissions and roughly $150,000 in customer losses, and that he stole more than $170,000 from one customer.

On September 27, 2017 Judge Alison J. Nathan entered a final judgment by default. As the SEC reported on September 29, 2017, it permanently enjoins Hallas from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act and Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act and orders him to pay $549,987.64 in disgorgement, prejudgment interest and civil penalties. The release gives only the combined figure, so the separate fields are left empty. It does not describe any bar, and none is recorded here. Checked on 2026-10-04.

Timeline

1. 2017-04-26 Litigation release published
2. 2017-09-27 Court enters default final judgment against Hallas

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, default judgment (LR-23955)

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.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.