by Jonathan Eberle | Oct 29, 2025 | News
By Jonathan Eberle |
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) announced that the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California has entered a final judgment against Safeguard Metals LLC and its owner, Jeffrey Ikahn, for orchestrating a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that preyed on elderly and retirement-aged investors across the country.
The ruling orders approximately $25.6 million in restitution to victims and an equal civil monetary penalty, totaling more than $51 million in sanctions. The decision follows a coordinated enforcement effort between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission(CFTC) and 30 state regulators, including Arizona.
According to court findings, Safeguard Metals and Ikahn operated a deceptive precious metals investment scheme between October 2017 and July 2021, soliciting roughly $68 million—primarily from retirement accounts—belonging to at least 450 individuals. The company promised secure investments in silver and other metals but instead misled investors with false information and inflated pricing on the metals sold.
Investigators found that the firm concealed material facts, manipulated sales tactics, and grossly overcharged customers for products that were worth far less than claimed. Much of the money lost came from seniors’ life savings and retirement accounts.
“The court’s final judgment in this matter provides meaningful restitution to investors harmed by this fraudulent action and it reinforces that the Arizona Corporation Commission will take decisive action to protect investors, especially those in vulnerable communities,” said ACC Chair Kevin Thompson. “I want to thank the CFTC and the state regulators for their dedication and hard work.”
Thompson added that the case serves as a reminder of the essential role state regulators play in detecting and halting investment fraud. “This outcome is an important reminder that state securities regulators play a critical role in fighting investment fraud in all forms,” he said.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) also pursued a parallel enforcement action in 2022 against Safeguard Metals and Ikahn. Earlier this year, the court ordered the defendants to pay $25.6 million in disgorgement and an equal civil penalty, mirroring the CFTC and state regulators’ ruling. Any funds paid under one judgment will be credited toward the other to prevent duplication.
The sweeping case reflects cooperation among financial regulators from 30 states, including Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Texas, as well as the CFTC’s national enforcement network.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Ethan Faverino | Oct 20, 2025 | News
By Ethan Faverino |
The Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) has announced a landmark $132.91 million settlement with Vanguard Marketing Corporation and The Vanguard Group, Inc. to address failures in supervising registered persons and disclosing potential tax consequences to investors.
The settlement follows a change in investment minimums for certain Vanguard target-date retirement funds, which resulted in significant, unanticipated capital gains taxes for investors.
The agreement is the result of a three-year, multi-state investigation led by a task force coordinated through the North American Securities Administrators Association (NASAA), in conjunction with a parallel investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
In Arizona alone, 3,675 Vanguard account holders were financially impacted, with additional Arizona investors affected through non-Vanguard custodians.
The settlement ensures full restitution for all affected investors nationwide who faced unexpected tax liabilities due to Vanguard’s oversight.
The SEC has established a Fair Fund to manage the distribution of the $132.91 million settlement, which Vanguard has already paid. The Fair Fund administrator will identify eligible investors, including those in Arizona holding Vanguard funds through non-Vanguard custodians.
Officials at Vanguard have yet to admit or deny the findings of the investigations by the ACC or SEC.
The SEC will oversee the distribution process for all states, including Arizona, to ensure fair and efficient restitution.
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Aug 26, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Joseph Sanberg, co-founder of Aspiration Partners and a prominent California Democrat who has donated to Gov. Gavin Newsom, pleaded guilty Thursday to two counts of wire fraud. Sanberg, who launched the company with former Arizona Democratic Chairman and CD1 Congressional candidate Andrei Cherny in 2013, faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison per count for “defrauding multiple investors and lenders” in a carbon credit purchasing scheme.
According to the Department of Justice, Sanberg, “devised a scheme to use his role as a co-founder and board member of Aspiration as well as his shares of company stock to defraud various lenders and investors.”
All told, Sanberg pleaded guilty to attempting to bilk investors of as much as $2 billion, the company’s proposed valuation. The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation.
From 2020-21, Sanberg and fellow board member Ibrahim Al Husseini “fraudulently obtained $145 million in loans from two lenders by pledging shares of Sanberg’s Aspiration stock.” The two subsequently falsified Al Husseini’s bank and brokerage statements to inflate his assets by tens of millions of dollars for the purpose of securing loans.
Cherny left the company in mid-October 2022, according to Forbes, following “a rift” that developed between him and Sanberg and a failed attempt to take the company public. At the time of his departure as CEO, the fraudulent activity had been ongoing for approximately two years.
The SEC complaint revealed a text message from Sanberg to Cherny in 2020 in which he said, “If you don’t get me the money tomorrow we are all f…ed. Get me the money. Your turn to figure it out like I have for so long. Wire it to the [Sanberg-entity] account. If you don’t then [the lender] will foreclose. This will give you a good taste of what I have to experience every day. I hate you and I hate this company and I don’t want to work anymore with you [ ]. You are so oblivious to what you’ve forced me to have to do.”
“This is a case about greed and abuse of trust,” said Assistant Director Jose A. Perez of the FBI Criminal Investigative Division. “Today’s guilty plea is a direct result of the commitment by the FBI and our law enforcement partners to hold those accountable who set out to defraud victims and undermine our financial system. The FBI will continue to work with our partners to ensure this kind of malicious behavior is investigated and stopped.”
When the investigation was launched by the Justice Department and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission following a 2021 ProPublica investigation, Cherny, deep in his failed campaign to unseat Rep. David Schweikert, defended his work at Aspiration. Cherny told ProPublica that only 12 million of the 35 million “cumulative total of to-be planted trees” had been planted at that time, noting the turnaround on a new planting was about 18 months.
“I have spent more than 25 years working to combat the climate crisis and am proud of the work I did to promote cutting-edge solutions at Aspiration,” Cherny said. “The carbon removal credit industry is an emerging industry and deserves to be regulated and scrutinized to ensure it is as effective as possible.”
He added, “I have no knowledge whatsoever of any wrongdoing at Aspiration and will fully cooperate with this inquiry.”
According to the SEC complaint, “To make it appear as though Aspiration’s business was rapidly growing, Sanberg recruited friends, associates, small businesses, and religious organizations and presented them to Aspiration as bona fide customers who were fully committed to paying large sums of money for the tree-planting services.”
The complaint continued, “Through his fraud, Sanberg raised more than $300 million from investors who falsely believed Aspiration had a thriving environmental sustainability services business.”
“The defendant didn’t just bend the truth, he built a business on a lie to boost the company’s value and line his own pockets,” said Inspector in Charge Eric Shen of the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) Criminal Investigations Group. “The Postal Inspection Service will go after this kind of calculated deception. No matter who you are, you will be brought to justice.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Apr 1, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
An Arizona Republican State Senator is pushing back against a new regulation from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Last week, Senator Shawnna Bolick added her name to a letter addressed to Members of the U.S. Congress over the SEC’s “radical climate agenda rule that would require most public companies to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions in order to be listed on American stock exchanges.” The letter was sent by a coalition of leaders under the umbrella of Advancing American Freedom.
On her “X” account, Bolick wrote, “It is always an honor to push back against Biden’s job killing policies.”
The signers of the letter requested legislators to “use all of the legislative powers at your disposal to strike down the SEC’s climate disclosure rule, including defunding the rule via the appropriations process and overturning it through the Congressional Review Act resolution effort being led by Congressman Bill Huizenga and Senator Tim Scott.”
In the letter, the coalition of organization heads highlighted that “American investors are concerned with financial returns and increasing shareholder value, not advancing an ideological climate agenda that stifles American innovation through mountains of paperwork and endless red tape for the American businesses that keep our economy strong.”
They noted that almost two dozen states have challenged the rule from the SEC. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, who led one of the lawsuits, said, “Biden’s radical climate mandate is the most outrageous act of overreach we’ve seen from the Securities and Exchange Commission since Biden took office. The SEC is supposed to prevent people from getting ripped off, not force an illegal climate mandate that is far outside of their wheelhouse. His climate mandate will only saddle businesses with costly red tape, threaten our supply chain, and devastate Iowa family farms.”
The Arizona Senate Democrats Caucus “X” account took aim at Bolick’s involvement in the letter, posting, “Just to clarify Senator Bolick, which policy are you pushing back against? Historically low unemployment, under 4% for two full years. Nearly 15 million new jobs added under President Biden. Inflation is down nearly 2/3 from its peak. In 2023, the economy grew 3.1%.”
Additional signers of the letter included leaders from Americans for Tax Reform, Americans for Prosperity, Consumers’ Research, American Commitment, 60 Plus Association, National Taxpayers Union, American Energy Institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute, Job Creators Network, and several others.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
