SEC v. Spark Trading Group LLC and Niket Shah (ponzi schemes, 2018)

Judgment entered

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In March 2018 the SEC announced charges, a preliminary injunction and an asset freeze in Brooklyn against Niket Shah and Spark Trading Group LLC over a Ponzi scheme that took more than $250,000 from friends and coworkers. After summary judgment for the SEC, a final judgment entered December 20, 2018 ordered $299,229 in disgorgement, $24,742 in interest and a $370,944 penalty against Shah.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$371k

Disgorgement

$299k

Prejudgment interest

$24.7k

Total relief

$695k

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 complaint, filed March 12, 2018 and unsealed on March 22, alleged Shah misled more than 15 investors about his trading success, altered statements to hide losses, promised monthly returns guaranteed against loss, took money for himself, and told investors who wanted their money back that it had been frozen by government agencies.

Outcome: SEC release LR-24393 (February 8, 2019) says the Eastern District of New York granted summary judgment to the SEC, finding that Shah and Spark Trading falsely claimed registration, profitability and guaranteed funds, and entered a final judgment on December 20, 2018. It enjoins both from antifraud violations, holds them jointly and severally liable for $299,229 in disgorgement plus $24,742 in interest, and orders Shah to pay a $370,944 penalty. This was a court finding after contested summary judgment rather than a settlement. The release does not say how much was collected.

This library tags the matter as ponzi schemes because the original document describes payments to earlier participants made from later participants' money. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's.

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. 2018-03-23 Litigation release published
2. 2018-12-20 Final judgment entered against Shah and Spark Trading after summary judgment

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 LR-24393 (final 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.

Related actions

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

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.