David Nava, the CEO of Surf Financial Group LLC admitted to operating multi-million dollar securities and tax fraud scheme and an unlicensed money services business in California.
According to the Department of Justice (DOJ), Nava entered his guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen S. Crawford of the Southern District of California.
He admitted to colluding with other individuals to defraud shareholders of publicly-traded companies and transferred millions of dollars through his unlicensed money services business. He also confessed to falsifying federal tax returns for several years.
During a hearing, the Surf Financial CEO pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business (MTB), and one count of tax fraud. He will be sentenced on January 8, 2021.
Surf Financial CEO David Nava was banned from the securities industry
A plea agreement filed in the court stated that in 1994, federal securities regulators prohibited Nava from participating in the securities industry. He did not comply with the ban.
