Navellier & Associates Will Appeal U.S. District Court Ruling
RENO, Nev., June 9, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- On June 2, 2020 the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts ruled in favor of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on two of four claims it has brought against Navellier & Associates, Inc., ("NAI") and its principal Louis Navellier. The District Court dismissed the SEC's other two claims. The court ordered the firm and Mr. Navellier pay a total of $29 million in "disgorgement" of fees and goodwill earned including prejudgment interest thereon.
Navellier & Associates and Mr. Navellier have appealed the decision because there was no factual or legal basis for the District Court's decision. There was no false or misleading marketing statement made by the Navellier defendants and the SEC presented no evidence that NAI's statements were even untrue. There was no negligence in making those statements because NAI repeated the historical performance statements provided in writing to NAI by NASDAQ OMX, the independent industry leader in performance calculation. Neither NASDAQ OMX or other investment advisory firms, such as Wells Fargo Advisers, who presented the same alleged, "misleading" statements to the same clients as NAI were sued or even charged by the SEC for those same statements.
"Respectfully, we strongly believe the court erred in its decision and its unsupported calculation of the disgorgement it awarded. As a result, we are appealing," said Samuel Kornhauser, counsel for Mr. Navellier and Navellier & Associates. "We're confident that there is no factual or legal basis for the District Court's decision; no clients were misled or harmed." In fact, NAI clients made $278 million in profits from NAI's investment advice. "The SEC presented no evidence that the historical index statements, which NASDAQ OMX supplied, were incorrect; NASDAQ OMX verified the index methodology in writing," Kornhauser continued. "Clients received exactly the strategy and investment advice they hired NAI to provide – in fact, Navellier & Associates generated approximately $278 million in profits for its clients as a result of strategies the SEC wrongly claims were misleading. We expect to have the decision reversed on appeal and to win at trial if the case is not fairly resolved before then."
NAI also believes the entire $29 million disgorgement award is invalid based on the pending Supreme Court case, Liu vs. SEC, where the SEC's legal authority to even seek disgorgement is being questioned. "If the Supreme Court rules that disgorgement is not an authorized remedy in SEC civil enforcement cases, then the $29 million disgorgement award in our case will be vacated as legally unauthorized."
About Navellier & Associates
www.navellier.com
Founded in 1987 by growth analyst Louis Navellier, Navellier & Associates is a money management firm that finds and exploits market inefficiencies. The firm utilizes a disciplined quantitative and fundamental analysis system to deliver customized portfolio strategies for individual investors. Headquartered in Reno, Nevada, Navellier & Associates offers domestic growth portfolios, dividend growth portfolios, and defensive tactical portfolios.
CONTACT:
Samuel Kornhauser
Law Offices of Samuel Kornhauser
(415) 981-6281
All investors should consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses of these portfolios carefully before investing. Navellier & Associates, Inc. claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standard (GIPS) and has prepared and presented this report in compliance with GIPS standards. Copy of this verification report is available upon request. All investing is subject to risk, including the loss of your principal.
SOURCE Navellier & Associates Inc.
Share this article