The Securities and Exchange Commission settled charges against two investment advisers, Delphia (USA) Inc. and Global Predictions Inc., for making false and misleading statements about their purported use of artificial intelligence (AI). The firms agreed to settle the SEC’s charges and pay $400,000 in total civil penalties.
According to the SEC’s order against Delphia, from 2019 to 2023, the Toronto-based firm made false and misleading statements in its SEC filings, in a press release, and on its website regarding its purported use of AI and machine learning that incorporated client data in its investment process. For example, according to the order, Delphia claimed that it “put[s] collective data to work to make our artificial intelligence smarter so it can predict which companies and trends are about to make it big and invest in them before everyone else.” The order finds that these statements were false and misleading because Delphia did not in fact have the AI and machine learning capabilities that it claimed. The firm was also charged with violating the Marketing Rule, which, among other things, prohibits a registered investment adviser from disseminating any advertisement that includes any untrue statement of material fact. Here are copies of the orders:https://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2024/ia-6573.pdf andhttps://www.sec.gov/files/litigation/admin/2024/ia-6574.pdf
In the SEC’s order against Global Predictions, the SEC found that the San Francisco-based firm made false and misleading claims in 2023 on its website and on social media about its purported use of AI. For example, the firm falsely claimed to be the “first regulated AI financial advisor” and misrepresented that its platform provided “[e]xpert AI-driven forecasts.” Global Predictions also violated the Marketing Rule, falsely claiming that it offered tax-loss harvesting services, and included an impermissible liability hedge clause in its advisory contract, among other securities law violations.
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Delphia and Global Predictions consented to the entry of orders finding that they violated the Advisers Act and ordering them to be censured and to cease and desist from violating the charged provisions. Delphia agreed to pay a civil penalty of $225,000, and Global Predictions agreed to pay a civil penalty of $175,000.
The SEC’s Office of Investor Education and Advocacy has issued an Investor Alert about artificial intelligence and investment fraud.
This decision, although not resulting in a major fine, is an important indicator of what could be a major focus of the SEC and other agencies as many companies are marketing their expertise and use of AI, especially publicly traded companies. Whistleblowers who reveal false claims may be entitled to an award under the SEC whistleblower program for revealing such information and also will help to prevent market manipulation.
Jeffrey Newman is a whistleblower lawyer whose firm represents whistleblowers in healthcare fraud under the False Claims Act (FCA) also whistleblower claims brought under the SEC whistleblower program for violations of securities regulations including insider trading cases and similar claims under the Commodities Futures Trading Commission whistleblower program. He also handles cases involving evasion of US sanctions against China, Iran and Russia and other sanctioned entities and he can be reached at Jeff@JeffNewmanLaw.com or at 617-823-3217
