SEC v. Eric J. "EJ" Dalius et al. (ponzi schemes, 2019)

Settled

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The Central District of California entered a consent final judgment against Eric Dalius and Saivian LLC on February 6, 2023, ordering about $21 million in disgorgement and interest and $1.5 million in penalty each. In July 2023 the SEC announced that Ryan Evans, the last remaining defendant, had also settled.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$3.1m

Disgorgement

$20.3m

Prejudgment interest

$971k

Total relief

$24.3m

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 SEC announced the amended complaint on October 15, 2019 (LR-24644); the case was first filed in October 2018. It alleges Saivian paid members from later members' fees rather than from selling receipt data, and paid recruiters residual income in a pyramid structure. Dalius is also alleged to have hidden his control and a prior conviction.

The record carried an undisclosed control blocks tag, which does not fit the release: the concealment alleged is of Dalius's role in the scheme and his conviction, not of a share-ownership stake. The status was unknown and is now filed, and "et al." is replaced by the named defendants.

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes because the document describes it as a scheme paying earlier investors with later investors' money. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

Outcome. The February 6, 2023 final judgment, entered by consent without admission or denial, makes Dalius and Saivian LLC jointly liable for $20,080,784.41 in disgorgement and $919,215.59 in interest, payable within a year, and imposes a $1,500,000 penalty on each. Litigation release 25783 (July 20, 2023) reports that Ryan Evans settled as the last remaining defendant, with a final judgment for $175,000 disgorgement, $52,129 interest and a $111,614 penalty after the court found his sales were unregistered securities offerings. Stored amounts add the three sets of figures, counting the joint disgorgement once. The release date is used as the resolution date because the Evans judgment date is not stated; the other Saivian entities were not checked.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Ponzi schemes — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2019-10-15 Litigation release published
2. 2023-02-06 Final consent judgment entered against Dalius and Saivian LLC
3. 2023-07-20 SEC announces judgment against last defendant Ryan Evans

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
• Final judgment as to Dalius and Saivian LLC
• SEC litigation release 25783 (Evans 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.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.