SEC Charges Former Executives With Fraud in Connection With $1.9 Billion Collapse of Subprime Auto Lender Tricolor

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has accused former Tricolor Holdings executives Daniel Chu, Jerome Kollar, and Ameryn Seibold of defrauding investors through a multi-year scheme. According to the SEC, Chu, Kollar, and Seibold allegedly orchestrated the scheme involving hundreds of millions of dollars of subprime auto loans between 2020 and Tricolor's bankruptcy in September 2025.

The SEC claims that Tricolor raised over $1.9 billion through asset-backed securities (ABS) offerings, while the executives made false and misleading statements about the company's financial health to investors. The complaint alleges that Tricolor misrepresented the loans as free of liens when many had been double pledged. The defendants are also accused of manipulating loan metrics to make non-paying loans appear current.

As of the bankruptcy, $945 million of principal remained outstanding. In a related criminal case, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has charged the trio with crimes. The SEC alleges violations of antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and seeks various remedies, including injunctions, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains, and civil penalties.