Litigation Releases (Austin D. Ellison-Meade)

U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Litigation Release No. 26389 / September 5, 2025

Securities and Exchange Commission v. Austin Danger Ellison-Meade, No. 2:23-cv-00521-CAS (C.D. Cal. filed Jan. 24, 2023)

SEC Obtains Final Judgment against Investment Club Manager Charged with Misappropriating Investor Funds

On September 3, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a final judgment against Austin D. Ellison-Meade, whom the SEC previously charged with misappropriating funds that he raised from investors in an investment club he managed called Baycap.io.

The SEC's complaint, filed on January 24, 2023, alleged that from at least 2019 to 2021, Ellison-Meade raised at least $2.8 million from approximately 31 individual investors for Baycap.io based on representations that he would use the funds to engage in algorithmic securities trading. The SEC's complaint further alleged that Meade never used investor funds to trade securities as represented, but rather misappropriated investor funds to pay for luxury items and to make Ponzi-like payments to other investors.

The judgment, entered on the basis of default, permanently enjoins Ellison-Meade from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security in an unregistered offering not for his personal account, and from violating Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Sections 206(1), 206(2), and 206(4) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and Rule 206(4)-8 thereunder. The Court also ordered Ellison-Meade to pay disgorgement of $2,917,751.02 and prejudgment interest thereon of $820,668.13, which the Court deemed satisfied by the order of restitution entered against Ellison-Meade in a parallel criminal case, United States v. Austin Danger Ellison-Meade, No. 8-22-cr-00094-JWH (C.D. Cal.).

The SEC's investigation was conducted by DoHoang T. Duong, Dora Zaldivar, and Finola H. Manvelian of the Los Angeles Regional Office. The litigation was conducted by Robert C. Stillwell and supervised by Douglas M. Miller.