SEC imposes $240,000 penalty on former Apollo senior partner

Mohammed Ali Rashid was found to have falsely described personal expenses

The Securities and Exchange Commission has obtained a final judgment against Mohammed Ali Rashid, a former senior partner at Apollo Management, imposing a civil penalty of $240,000.

The SEC’s complaint, filed Oct. 25, 2017, alleged that Rashid allocated personal expenses to private equity funds that he and Apollo advised by misrepresenting the expenses as legitimate business expenses.

The complaint alleged that Rashid was reimbursed for approximately $290,000 in personal expenses fraudulently disguised as legitimate business expenses, including a New Year’s trip to Brazil, a friend’s bachelor party and wedding, a flight to the Super Bowl, and numerous dinners with friends and family at high-end Manhattan restaurants.

Prior to the filing of the SEC’s complaint, Rashid repaid Apollo for the ill-gotten funds and Apollo reimbursed the affected funds.

On Sept. 23, after a nine-day bench trial at which 33 witnesses testified, the district court found that Rashid had engaged in a pattern of repeatedly, knowingly and falsely describing personal expenses as business expenses and had violated the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.

[More: SEC obtains record $4.7 billion in penalties, disgorgement]