SEC recovers $1.3 million from Spartan Trading fraud scheme

The estate of Richard Myre is now jointly liable for up to $695,000 of a total $1.3 million disgorgement order against Spartan Trading Company LLC. This follows a settlement between the estate and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The SEC had alleged that Spartan Trading, an unregistered investment fund, raised more than $3.7 million from investors between 2019 and 2023. The fund misappropriated investor money rather than trading it as promised. Investors received false account statements claiming the fund was profitable when it was doing very little trading and often losing money. The founders of the fund, Richard Myre, Dale Dahmen, and Dominick Dahmen, were found shot dead in a pickup truck in early 2023 in what local law enforcement described as a double murder-suicide. The SEC filed a complaint in U.S. district court in Minnesota. A default judgment against the Dale Dahmen estate ordered it to pay almost $700,000 in disgorgement and interest. The estate of Richard Myre agreed to a final judgment without admitting or denying the allegations. The estate of Richard Myre is jointly liable with Spartan Trading for disgorgement of the scheme's ill-gotten gains.