Now that F-Squared has settled, the SEC is going after the model manager's ex-CEO, Howard Present.

Sanders Wommack of RIABiz reports that, on December 22, the regulatory agency filed a 48-page complaint against Present, detailing the SEC's version of what happened at F-Squared during its rise over the past seven years. Fundsters interested in the details of the case and of F-Squared's rise should take a look at RIABiz's in-depth article.

Here's what the trade pub says that Present's lawyers at Williams & Connolly had to say about the SEC's claims:

Howard Present acted with integrity in building F-Squared Investments. There is no allegation in the SEC's complaint that investors lost money. There is no allegation questioning the company's investment performance over the past six years. Instead, the complaint focuses on the firm's marketing and advertising relating to performance data for 2001 through September 2008. We will demonstrate in court that Mr. Present acted appropriately and that the SEC's allegations are misdirected and meritless.

In RIABiz's words, the SEC argues that Present "knew he was wildly deceiving investors about his company's returns and engaged in a comprehensive cover-up that spanned years." Part of that narrative includes the tidbit that the algorithm initially underlying F-Squared's flagship AlphaSector strategies (F-Squared replaced Newfound's signals with its own in 2013) was created in 2007 by a then-20-year-old intern at Newfound Research named Corey Hoffstein.

Present left F-Squared in November, three months after the SEC sent F-Squared a Wells notice. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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