Adviser to NASCAR fund that tanked riles SEC

The investment adviser to a $4 million mutual fund that invested in NASCAR-related stocks failed to provide securities regulators with documents about the now-liquidated fund and faces an administrative hearing, the Securities and Exchange Commission said. David Dube and his Peak Wealth Opportunities LLC, a Largo, Fla.-based advisory business whose only client was the Stock Car Stock Index Fund, were asked eight times for documents, beginning in April 2010, about Peak Wealth's business, balance sheet, cash flow and cash receipts. Peak was the adviser to the fund from 2008 until June 2010, when the fund's board terminated the firm's advisory agreement and liquidated the $4 million in assets. The board claimed Mr. Dube also had failed to provide it with needed information, according to the SEC hearing order. Additionally, the board liquidated Mr. Dube's personal holdings in the fund to cover $50,000 in expenses that Peak Wealth said it would pay, but had not, the commission said. “After promising multiple times to provide the requested records, Dube failed to live up to his regulatory obligations and turn over the records,” said Bruce Karpati, enforcement chief of the SEC's asset management unit. “When financial professionals fail to cooperate with SEC exams, they force the agency to expend greater resources to pursue investigations.” The commission asked for documents from Mr. Dube and Peak Wealth while examining operations of the Stock Car Stock Index Fund, which invested in 40 companies that either sponsor NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series races or teams, or they earn money from the events. Some of the holdings included Ford Motor Co. and Kellogg Co. Mr. Dube did not return a call seeking comment and he is not represented by counsel, according to the SEC. The commission could seek to bar Mr. Dube permanently from association with a registered investment adviser or broker-dealer.