On July 17, 2020, the SEC charged David Hu, the co-founder and chief investment officer of International Investment Group LLC (IIG), a former registered investment adviser, with fraud for his role in a $60 million Ponzi-like scheme. The SEC’s complaint alleges that Hu orchestrated multiple frauds on IIG’s investment advisory clients. According to the complaint, Hu grossly overvalued the assets in IIG’s flagship hedge fund, resulting in the fund paying inflated fees to IIG. In addition, through IIG, Hu allegedly sold at least $60 million in fake trade finance loans to other investors and used the proceeds to pay the redemption requests of earlier investors and other liabilities. The complaint alleges that Hu deceived IIG clients into purchasing these loans by directing others at IIG to create and provide to the clients fake loan documentation to substantiate the non-existent loans, including fake promissory notes and a forged credit agreement. [https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2020-157]