On Feb. 5, 2026, the Securities and Exchange Commission said it filed a settled civil action on Jan. 30, 2026, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (Case No. 1:26-cv-00561-MHC). In the SEC’s account, Georgia resident Ejiro Ode Okuma agreed, without admitting or denying the SEC’s allegations, to pay more than $13 million, comprising $9,025,424.89 in disgorgement plus $1,029,626.64 in prejudgment interest and a $3,000,000 civil penalty. The SEC said the judgment would permanently enjoin Okuma from violating the charged provisions of the federal securities laws and bar him from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security, except purchases or sales of securities listed on national exchanges in his own personal accounts.
The alleged conduct began in March 2022 and included misappropriation of assets from an elderly investment advisory client and from the estate of the client’s recently deceased sister; the SEC further alleged that in February 2023 Okuma opened a brokerage account for one of the client’s trusts without the client’s knowledge or consent and transferred $9.8 million in securities into it, then took steps to conceal the alleged scheme, including enabling check-writing, setting login credentials he controlled, and creating an email account to impersonate the client electronically.
The SEC charged alleged violations of Section 17(a)(1) of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rules 10b-5(a) and (c), and Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.
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