It appears the party may be over for audacious financier Danny Pang, who yesterday was formally accused by the SEC of multiple cases of fraud. Pang, whose alleged misconduct was examined in a previous Journal article two weeks ago, is accused of taking investors for hundreds of millions through fraudulent life insurance and real estate funds from at least 2003.
The Taiwanese-born Pang, who managed the Los Angeles-based PEM Group, is accused on a number of charges of misrepresentation, mainly that he drew money from Taiwanese investors for a bogus life insurance/securities scheme that failed to achieve the returns Pang promised investors. Returns were instead paid through money raised for the purposes of investing in real estate.
Pang’s alleged misdeeds include an elaborate fabrication of his professional history, in which he claimed former employment as a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley, as well as claims of an M.B.A. from the University of California-Irvine, none of which can be confirmed.
Pang was last brought into disrepute when accused of stealing $3 million from a fomer employer, venture capital firm Sky Capital Partners in 1997.
Assets belonging to Pang have been frozen, which include those belonging to the PEM Group. Said Robert Khuzami, director of the SEC’s Division of Enforcement: “Swift and decisive enforcement action is critical to rooting out unscrupulous promoters who will stop at nothing to create an aura of authenticity when making unreal assurances to investors.”