U.S. court orders Ross Gregory Erskine to pay penalty in SEC securities fraud case

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Ross Erskine SEC fraud penalty

Highlights

On May 20, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California ordered Ross Gregory Erskine to pay $60,625 disgorgement, $15,450.03 prejudgment interest, and a $100,000 civil penalty.
Erskine is permanently enjoined from violating federal securities laws and from soliciting anyone to purchase or sell any security, after being found liable for multiple securities law violations.
The SEC alleged LFS Funding Limited Partnership, through Erskine, fraudulently raised over $618,000 from investors between May 29, 2018, and May 29, 2019, using misleading private placement memorandums.

Final judgment sets financial and legal penalties

As reported by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California entered final judgment against Erskine on May 20, 2026, in the regulator’s civil enforcement action.

The court permanently enjoins Erskine from violating cited federal securities law provisions and from soliciting any person or entity to purchase or sell any security. It also orders him to pay, jointly and severally with his business entities, disgorgement of $60,625, prejudgment interest of $15,450.03, and a civil penalty of $100,000.

Earlier in the case, on Aug. 25, 2023, the court granted the SEC’s motion for summary judgment, finding that Erskine violated Sections 15(a) and 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, as well as Sections 5 and 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933.

Offering allegations and enforcement backdrop

The SEC filed its complaint on May 20, 2021, alleging that LFS Funding Limited Partnership raised more than $618,000 from investors through a fraudulent offering of limited partnership interests between about May 29, 2018, and May 29, 2019.

According to the complaint, Erskine was not registered as a broker or dealer but solicited prospective investors to buy partnership interests. The regulator alleged he distributed private placement memorandums containing materially misleading statements and received commissions when investors bought into the partnership.

The litigation was handled by Charles Canter and supervised by Stephen Kam of the SEC’s Los Angeles Regional Office. The case underscores the financial and compliance risks tied to unregistered securities solicitation and misleading offering materials in private capital raising.

Our earlier article on Apple’s antitrust investigation in India explained that the company agreed to provide India-specific financial disclosures to regulators, potentially expanding any penalties to be calculated on global revenues rather than only local sales. We also noted that this widening compliance exposure added uncertainty to Apple’s outlook even as the stock remained technically strong in the near term.

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