Losses with Chris Yoo and Summit Asset Strategies Investment Management?
Have you lost money investing in the Summit Stable Value Fund or the Summit Stable Opportunities Fund I? We are investigating allegations made by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) against the investment adviser of these funds, Chris Yoo of Bellevue, Washington. Chris Yoo owned and operated two investment advisory firms, Summit Asset Strategies Investment Advisors, LLC, and Summit Asset Strategies Wealth Management, LLC. Through these entities, Yoo managed two funds, the Summit Stable Value Fund, and the Summit Stable Opportunities Fund I.
According to the SEC Complaint that was filed in the Western District of Washington in Seattle on Friday, September 4, 2015, Chris Yoo improperly withdrew nearly $900,000 in assets of the Summit Stable Value Fund, based on Yoo’s manipulation of the value of certain fund assets. Yoo’s firms were entitled to management and advisory fees of the Summit Stable Value Fund (SSVF) and Summit Stable Opportunities Fund I (SSOF), based on the net fund profits. The SSVF purportedly invested in domestic and international debt and stocks, including Korean stocks and notes. The SSVF had at least 20 investors who invested a combined $7.5 million in promissory notes of the SSVF, and the investors were to get a fixed return on the notes. The SSOF had 13 investors who invested a combined $2 million, but the SSOF primarily had invested its money in notes of the SSVF.
According to the SEC Complaint, beginning in 2011, Yoo began withdrawing assets from the SSVF that exceeded the net profits of the fund. Also, beginning in 2012, Yoo began inflating the value of SSVF’s internal assets, such as an investment in Prime Pacific Bank. The inflated values allowed Yoo to improperly take a higher advisory or management fee. Moreover, the SEC alleges that Yoo did not properly disclose that his firms received over $80,000 in referral fees for investing his clients’ money in the SSVF.
In a separate case, the SEC brought a regulatory complaint against the auditors of the SSVF, Raymon Holmdahl and Kanako Matsumoto, of the firm Peterson Sullivan, a Seattle-based accounting firm. The SEC alleged that Holmdahl’s and Matsumoto’s audits of the SSVF failed to comply with numerous auditing standards enumerated by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. The SEC alleged that they failed to obtain sufficient evidence about the existence of certain fund assets, that they failed to exercise appropriate professional judgment, and that they failed to properly supervise the audit of the SSVF.
Israels & Neuman PLC is a securities and investment fraud law firm with offices in Denver, Colorado and the Seattle area. We have an office in downtown Bellevue. We represent investors in FINRA arbitration proceedings and court. Our attorneys have represented over one thousand investors against many brokerage firms in the past, including LPL Financial, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Smith Barney, Stifel Nicolaus & Company, UBS Financial Services, Oppenheimer, Charles Schwab, Wells Fargo Advisors, Ameriprise Financial Services, Raymond James Financial Services, ProEquities, Securities America, National Securities Corp., and many others.
If you invested with the Chris Yoo, the Summit Stable Value Fund, or the Summit Stable Opportunities Fund, please Contact Us at 720-599-3505 for a free evaluation of your case.
Click to view: Yoo SEC Comp
Click to view: Holmdahl SEC Comp
Click to view: Yoo IAR Report 9.7.15