Vassallo

ORDER

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), in this securities fraud enforcement action, moves for a final judgment of disgorgement for $43 million against defendant Anthony Vassallo, with pre-judgment interest, and civil penalties. ECF No. 488. For the reasons set forth below, the court will grant the motion.

I. BACKGROUND

According to the SEC’s complaint, ECF No. 1, from approximately May 2004 through November 2008, defendant Vas-sallo (and Kenneth Kenitzer, who is not involved in this motion), raised over $40 million from approximately 150 investors. At some point, if not from the very beginning, the investors’ funds were lost to Vas-sallo’s “Ponzi” scheme, in which earlier investors were paid “returns” from the investments of later investors. Vassallo hid the fraud from his investors, but it eventually came to light in 2008, when investors found that they could not access their funds.

II. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

A. The Civil Case.

On March 11, 2009, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) sued Anthony Vassallo (“Vassallo”) and Equity Investment Management and Trading, Inc. (“EIMT”) for securities fraud. ECF No. 1. On April 30, and July 31, 2009, the…