SEC v. Albert Saniger, No. LR-26282, Southern District of New York (Apr. 11, 2025) — Press Release
raw: Alberto Saniger Mantinan, a/k/a Albert Saniger
Alberto Saniger Mantinan, a/k/a Albert Saniger, No. 1:25-cv-02937 (S.D.N.Y. Apr. 11, 2025)
summary
The SEC charged Albert Saniger, former CEO of Nate, Inc., with defrauding investors of over $42 million by misrepresenting the company's use of artificial intelligence.
paragraph
Albert Saniger allegedly raised more than $42 million through false claims that Nate, Inc.'s mobile shopping app used AI to automate transactions without human involvement. In reality, the company relied heavily on contract employees for manual data entry and had lower transaction success rates than reported. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, an officer-and-director bar, disgorgement, and civil penalties.
narrative
The SEC has charged Albert Saniger, the founder and former CEO of Nate, Inc., with orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to raise over $42 million. Between 2019 and 2022, Saniger allegedly misled investors during Seed and Series A rounds by claiming Nate's mobile shopping application used advanced AI to process transactions without human intervention. However, the SEC alleges that Nate actually relied on contract employees to manually input orders and that the app's success rate was lower than represented. The complaint, filed in the Southern District of New York, charges Saniger with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, an officer-and-director bar, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties.
Classified pre-ipo-fraud(confidence 100%). EDGAR detection: forms S-1/Form D/1-A· recall 72% / precision 8%. detection rule →
Parties
Securities and Exchange CommissionAlberto Saniger Mantinan
Keywords
sanigernatealbert sanigersecurities exchangeexchange commissionsecuritiessecalbertexchangealberto sanigersaniger mantinanmantinan albertapril securitiescommission albertfounder former
Exhibits & Attached Documents (1)
Extracted insights
Dollar amounts 1
- $42.00M $42 million $10M–$100M
Entities 2
- person albert saniger
- agency Securities and Exchange Commission
Triples 9
- Securities And Exchange Commission charged Albert Saniger, the founder and former CEO of Nate, Inc., with fraudulently soliciting investments and raising over $42 million through false statements about AI use
- Albert Saniger marketed Nate as a mobile shopping application that used AI to process transactions
- Albert Saniger told investors that Nate’s application used automated technology relying on AI to complete purchases without human involvement
- Nate relied on contract employees to manually input orders placed by users on the app
- Securities And Exchange Commission filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Albert Saniger
- Securities And Exchange Commission charges Albert Saniger with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5
- Securities And Exchange Commission seeks permanent injunctions, conduct-based injunctions, an officer-and-director bar, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties
- Securities And Exchange Commission conducted investigation by Natasha Bronn Schrier and Ellen Chen, supervised by Rahul Kolhatkar and Jason H. Lee of the San Francisco Regional Office
- Securities And Exchange Commission will be led by Christopher Dunnigan of the New York Regional Office and Natasha Bronn Schrier, supervised by Daniel Loss
PDF (from attached: complaint)
Text layers
Extracted body text (2,107c)
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 26282 / April 11, 2025 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Albert Saniger, No. 1:25-cv-02937 (S.D.N.Y. filed Apr. 9, 2025) SEC Charges Founder and Former CEO of Artificial Intelligence Startup with Misleading Investors On April 9, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Albert Saniger, the founder and former CEO of Nate, Inc., a privately held technology startup, with fraudulently soliciting investments in Nate and raising over $42 million through the sale of Nate stock by making false and misleading statements about the company’s use of artificial intelligence (“AI”). According to the SEC’s complaint, between spring 2019 and December 2022, Saniger, who resided in New York, NY during the relevant time, marketed Nate as a mobile shopping application that used AI to process transactions. Saniger allegedly told investors in both Nate’s Seed and Series A fundraising round that Nate’s application used automated technology that relied on AI to complete purchases made through the app without human involvement. In reality, and as Saniger allegedly knew, Nate relied in large part on contract employees to manually input orders placed by users on the app, Nate’s success rate in completing transactions was lower than what he represented to investors, and Nate’s app was not able to use AI to complete purchases. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges Saniger with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, conduct-based injunctions, an officer-and-director bar, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Natasha Bronn Schrier and Ellen Chen and supervised by Rahul Kolhatkar and Jason H. Lee of the San Francisco Regional Office. The litigation will be led by Christopher Dunnigan of the New York Regional Office and Ms. Bronn Schrier and supervised by Daniel Loss.
OCR text (2,107c · html-text · 99% conf)
U.S. SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION Litigation Release No. 26282 / April 11, 2025 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Albert Saniger, No. 1:25-cv-02937 (S.D.N.Y. filed Apr. 9, 2025) SEC Charges Founder and Former CEO of Artificial Intelligence Startup with Misleading Investors On April 9, 2025, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged Albert Saniger, the founder and former CEO of Nate, Inc., a privately held technology startup, with fraudulently soliciting investments in Nate and raising over $42 million through the sale of Nate stock by making false and misleading statements about the company’s use of artificial intelligence (“AI”). According to the SEC’s complaint, between spring 2019 and December 2022, Saniger, who resided in New York, NY during the relevant time, marketed Nate as a mobile shopping application that used AI to process transactions. Saniger allegedly told investors in both Nate’s Seed and Series A fundraising round that Nate’s application used automated technology that relied on AI to complete purchases made through the app without human involvement. In reality, and as Saniger allegedly knew, Nate relied in large part on contract employees to manually input orders placed by users on the app, Nate’s success rate in completing transactions was lower than what he represented to investors, and Nate’s app was not able to use AI to complete purchases. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charges Saniger with violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The SEC seeks permanent injunctions, conduct-based injunctions, an officer-and-director bar, disgorgement with prejudgment interest, and civil penalties. The SEC’s investigation was conducted by Natasha Bronn Schrier and Ellen Chen and supervised by Rahul Kolhatkar and Jason H. Lee of the San Francisco Regional Office. The litigation will be led by Christopher Dunnigan of the New York Regional Office and Ms. Bronn Schrier and supervised by Daniel Loss.