SEC v. Jason W. Galanis (matched orders, 2015)

Settled

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The SEC's September 2015 Gerova Financial Group case against Jason, John, Derek and Jared Galanis, Gary Hirst and Gavin Hamels ended in consent final judgments filed in August 2018 in the Southern District of New York, with the SEC saying all six had settled. The four Galanis judgments order $8,318,184 in disgorgement and $2,398,730.92 in interest; the Hirst and Hamels judgments read state no money. Jason Galanis was sentenced to 135 months in the parallel criminal case.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$8.3m

Prejudgment interest

$2.4m

Total relief

$10.7m

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 this matter on September 24, 2015 as release LR-23360. The respondents named are Jason W. Galanis, John Galanis, Derek Galanis, Jared Galanis, Gary Hirst and Gavin Hamels (6 individuals, 0 entities).

The complaint alleges that in early 2010 Jason Galanis and Gary Hirst arranged for shares to be issued to a Kosovo friend of the family, that the Galanises directed the sales and received proceeds of about $20 million, and that Galanis bribed adviser Gavin Hamels to buy Gerova stock for clients, with many purchases coordinated as matched trades against the friend's sales.

This library tags the matter as matched orders, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

Nothing in the complaint has been proven. A parallel criminal case was brought.

Consent final judgments for the four Galanis defendants and Hamels were filed on 9 August 2018 and Hirst's on 29 August 2018, and the SEC's release of 21 September 2018 states that it had settled with all six. Jason Galanis was ordered to pay $7,483,684 in disgorgement and $2,178,510.87 in interest, John Galanis $604,000 and $175,825.27, Derek Galanis $23,000 and $6,695.32 and Jared Galanis $207,500 and $37,699.46, with installment terms for Jared; the stored totals add these four. The judgments I read for Hirst and Hamels contain injunctions, and for Hirst an officer and director bar, but no dollar figures. Each defendant had pleaded guilty or, in Hirst's case, been convicted in the parallel criminal case; Jason Galanis was sentenced to 135 months, the longest sentence listed. The consents were without admission of the SEC's allegations, but the criminal outcomes are separate findings.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary documents linked above. This page summarises the structured record and does not reproduce them.

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.

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

Timeline

1. 2015-09-24 Litigation release published
2. 2018-08-29 Last of the consent final judgments filed (Hirst); SEC reports all six defendants settled (S.D.N.Y.)

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 24283 (settlements with all defendants)
• Final judgment as to Jason W. Galanis (9 Aug 2018)
• Final judgment as to John P. Galanis
• Final judgment as to Derek M. Galanis
• Final judgment as to Jared M. Galanis
• Final judgment as to Gary T. Hirst (29 Aug 2018)

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.

Related actions

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

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.