The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Nathan Fuller, a Texas resident, for allegedly defrauding around 150 investors out of approximately $12.3 million through a misleading cryptocurrency investment scheme. The SEC claims that Fuller operated under the names Privvy Investments LLC and Gateway Digital Investments, marketing passive joint-venture interests in a purported crypto arbitrage trading venture from October 2022 to mid-2024.
Fuller allegedly promised investors returns of 40% to 50% within 30 to 45 days, with some claims suggesting returns exceeding 100% in just a month, by utilizing proprietary AI trading bots. However, the SEC asserts these assurances were false, revealing that only about $380,000, or roughly 3% of the total raised, was actually invested in cryptocurrency, and no profits were realized from these trades.
In a troubling turn, Fuller is said to have misappropriated at least $6.2 million for personal expenses, including luxury purchases and gambling, while approximately $5.5 million was allegedly used for payments to earlier investors in a Ponzi-like fashion. As investor withdrawals grew, he reportedly fabricated account statements and created a letter using AI to mislead investors about the status of their accounts.
