SEC v. Demitrios Hallas (2019)
Judgment entered
Checked against the primary document on October 3, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.
In February 2019 an SEC administrative law judge barred former broker Demitrios Hallas from the securities industry and penny stock offerings by default, relying on a September 2017 federal default judgment and his guilty plea to felony grand larceny for stealing $170,750 from a customer. The district court had ordered $260,193 in disgorgement, an equal penalty and interest. The matter is a follow-on bar, not a finding of churning.
The record
| Agency | SEC |
|---|---|
| Release number | 3-18229 |
| Date filed | 2019-02-22 |
| Date resolved | 2019-02-22 |
| Court | SEC administrative law judge |
| Status | judgment |
| Asset class | bonds, equities |
| Criminal parallel | Yes: guilty plea (Hallas (state-court grand larceny charge)), New York state court (Westchester County), 2018-10-24 |
| Bars imposed | penny stock bar, registration bar |
| Defendants | Demitrios Hallas |
| Cited as charged or alleged | Exchange Act s.10(b) and Rule 10b-5 ; Securities Act s.17(a) |
| Techniques |
What was ordered
- Civil penalty
- $260k
- Disgorgement
- $260k
- Prejudgment interest
- —
- Total relief
- $520k
- Alleged gain
- —
What is alleged to have happened
An SEC administrative law judge issued Initial Decision No. 1358 on February 22, 2019 in administrative proceeding 3-18229, after Hallas failed to answer the order instituting proceedings or defend it. The respondent is Demitrios Hallas (1 individual, 0 entities). The proceeding began in September 2017, produced an earlier default decision that the Commission vacated after the Supreme Court's decision in Lucia v. SEC, and was reassigned for a fresh hearing.
It is a follow-on proceeding. The basis is the Southern District of New York's default judgment of September 27, 2017, which enjoined Hallas from violating Section 17(a), Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5 on allegations that he stole a client's funds and traded unsuitable leveraged ETFs and notes for five customers. The district court imposed a civil penalty of $260,193.39, an equal amount of disgorgement and prejudgment interest. In October 2018 Hallas also pleaded guilty in Westchester County to grand larceny for taking $170,750 from one customer and was sentenced to probation, with restitution; the judge did not rely on the conviction to meet the statutory element but weighed it in the public interest.
The judge barred him from association with any broker, dealer or adviser and from penny stock offerings. The decision notes in passing that Hallas acknowledged excessive trading to generate commissions, but that was not a charge or the basis of the bar, so this library does not tag the matter as churning.
For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary documents linked above.
Timeline
- 2019-02-22 Initial decision
Primary documents
Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.