SEC v. Travis Treusch (free riding and parking, 2024)

Settled

✓ 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.

Report an error in this record (sec-travis-treusch-free-riding-and-parking-2024) by email

In February 2024 the SEC charged Long Island man Travis Treusch with aiding a free-riding scheme by opening and recruiting others to open unfunded brokerage accounts for its principals, for compensation per account. He consented to a bifurcated judgment with an injunction, with its length and any money left to the court.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

—

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 on April 2, 2024 (litigation release 25962) a complaint filed on February 11, 2024 in the Eastern District of New York against Treusch, in addition to Eduardo Hernandez, Christopher Flagg, Daquan Lloyd and Corey Ortiz, charged earlier.

The SEC alleges that from about July 2020 to January 2022 Treusch aided and abetted Hernandez and Flagg, who opened unfunded brokerage accounts that received instant deposit credit and used it to trade at manipulated prices with other accounts they controlled, shifting the broker's credit into guaranteed profits. Treusch allegedly opened a loser account himself, recruited others to do so, gave the principals the login details and was paid per account, and recruited two people who handed control of winner accounts to Hernandez. He is charged with aiding and abetting Section 10(b) and Rule 10b-5.

Without admitting or denying, he consented to a bifurcated judgment enjoining violations and imposing a conduct-based injunction, with its duration and any money left to the court, subject to approval. The $2 million the record showed as alleged gain is the whole scheme's profits, not an amount alleged against him, and is cleared. This library tags the matter as free riding.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

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.

• Free riding and parking — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2024-04-02 Litigation release published

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

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.