I’ve heard some crazy things over the years and I often wondered what percentage of investment managers and advisors have an element of “astrology” to their decision-making process. Nonetheless, I never actually thought someone would use “relationships(s) between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world” to make investment decisions.
Turns out that Gurudeo Persaud, formerly an employee of Money Concepts Capital Corporation, did use astrology to make investment decisions and the SEC is busting him for it. Well, actually they are busting him for not disclosing that he was using insane concepts to pick stocks–bravo SEC!
The Commission’s complaint alleged that, while associated with Money Concepts, Persaud started his own company, White Elephant Trading Company LLC. The complaint further alleged that from no later than July 2007 until at least January 2011, Persaud raised more than $1 million from investors by promising them 6 to 18 percent annual returns and a risk-free investment in White Elephant’s private equity fund, which would invest in the futures and other markets. Persaud made numerous misrepresentations and omissions to investors, including guaranteeing their investments were secure, failing to disclose his trading strategies were based on lunar cycles and the gravitational pull between the Earth and the moon, and that he misappropriated nearly half the investors’ contributions for personal use. source: http://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2014/34-72145.pdf
What will they think of next?
About the Author: Wesley Gray, PhD
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