Litigation Releases (Spartan Trading Company, LLC; Estate of Richard Myre; and Estate of Dale Dahmen)

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 26528 / April 15, 2026

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Spartan Trading Company, LLC, et al., Civil Action No. 23-cv-1997 (JWB/DTS) (D. Minn., filed June 29, 2023)

SEC Obtains Final Judgments as to Spartan Trading Company, LLC and the Estates of its Founders in Alleged Multi-Million Dollar Offering Fraud

On April 13, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota entered a final judgment by consent against the Estate of Richard Myre and an amended default judgment against Spartan Trading Company, LLC in connection with an alleged offering fraud in Minnesota. The Court previously entered a default judgment against Relief Defendant the Estate of Dale Dahmen, and, upon the SEC's motion, dismissed charges against Relief Defendant the Estate of Dominick Dahmen. Entry of the final judgments concludes the SEC's litigation.

The SEC's complaint alleged that from 2019 to 2023 Spartan Trading, an unregistered investment fund founded by Myre, Dale Dahmen, and Dominick Dahmen, raised over $3.7 million from dozens of investors in communities surrounding the Twin Cities. According to the complaint, the investment fund was a sham that defrauded investors in multiple ways, including Spartan Trading, Myre, and the Dahmens raising money on the premise of pooled investing but then failing to make promised investments in stocks. Spartan Trading and Myre were also alleged to have provided investors with statements that falsely represented that Spartan Trading was earning consistently positive returns when, in reality, Spartan Trading engaged in very little investment activity at all and often lost money on the trades it did make. The complaint further alleged that Myre and the Dahmens regularly withdrew money from Spartan Trading, receiving more than $1.9 million of investor money.

Without admitting or denying the allegations made in the complaint, the Myre Estate agreed to the entry of the final judgment, which orders the estate liable, jointly and severally with Spartan Trading, for disgorgement of ill-gotten gains and prejudgment interest. The amended default judgment against Spartan Trading permanently enjoins it from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 and orders it liable for disgorgement plus prejudgment interest totaling $1,319,823.02, of which up to $695,000 is owed jointly and severally with the Myre Estate. The default judgment against the Dale Dahmen Estate ordered it to pay disgorgement of $648,747.15 plus $51,034.69 in prejudgment interest.

The SEC's litigation was conducted by BeLinda Mathie and supervised by Benjamin Hanauer and Eric Phillips, and the investigation was conducted by Lee Farnsworth and Larry Brannon and was supervised by Amy Flaherty Hartman, all of the SEC's Chicago Regional Office.