AI gets its own “boiler room” scandal
The SEC accuses a Long Island firm of running a $74 million boiler room that sold retirees marked-up shares in Anduril, Anthropic, Perplexity, and SpaceX.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is accusing a Long Island-based financial firm, The Spaventa Group, of running a boiler room operation that raised $74 million by selling shares in pre-IPO companies to more than 800 people, with many of them being retirees and retail investors. According to the SEC's complaint, the firm allegedly charged investors an average of 46% more than the companies themselves paid for those shares, with some investors paying up to 91% more.
The companies targeted in the alleged scam included SpaceX, Anduril, Anthropic, and Perplexity. The SEC claims the scheme ran from December 2020 to June 2025, with Spaventa and his team of over 100 agents making thousands of phone calls to sell the shares. Despite calling the operation a "boiler room," the SEC alleges that investors were promised no hidden fees. The firm has denied the allegations.
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