David Ortiz, a Whittier, California investment adviser, and his entity DaveGlo Investment Group Inc. have each received a separate final judgment from a federal court in the Central District of California, following a Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action charging Ortiz with selling approximately $18M in unregistered oil and gas securities to around 20 retail investors without disclosing that he was receiving transaction-based compensation for doing so. Judge Dale Fischer entered both judgments on April 27, 2026. Ortiz personally is ordered to pay disgorgement of $816,934, prejudgment interest of $170,194, and a civil penalty of $50,000 — a total of approximately $1,037,128. DaveGlo Investment Group is jointly and severally liable with Ortiz for the disgorgement and prejudgment interest, and must separately pay $987,128 to the SEC within 30 days, with those funds held by the SEC pending a court-approved distribution plan. Ortiz marketed the investments through Los Angeles radio commercials and workshops held at his offices in Whittier under the name David Ortiz Advisors, pitching oil and gas offerings sponsored by Resolute Capital Partners and Homebound Resources. He received payments through DaveGlo via an intermediary called Beacon Global Group Inc. and told none of his investors about those financial arrangements. Many of his clients lost the money they invested. The SEC filed charges in September 2025. Ortiz was barred from the securities industry by SEC administrative order on August 29, 2025.
Two Separate Judgments: Ortiz Personally Pays Over $1M, DaveGlo Pays $987K to a Fund for Investors
The dual judgment structure is significant. The Ortiz personal judgment covers disgorgement of $816,934 representing net profits, prejudgment interest of $170,194, and a $50,000 civil penalty under Sections 20(d) of the Securities Act, 21(d)(3) of the Exchange Act, and 209(e) of the Advisers Act. The DaveGlo entity judgment separately orders the company to pay $987,128 — the combined disgorgement and prejudgment interest for which both Ortiz and DaveGlo are jointly and severally liable — directly to the SEC within 30 days of entry. The court specified that the SEC will hold those funds until further order and may propose a distribution plan subject to court approval. The SEC may propose returning the collected funds to harmed investors through such a plan, subject to further court proceedings.
Both judgments permanently enjoin their respective defendants and also contain a conduct-based injunction barring Ortiz from participating — through any entity he owns or controls — in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any security, with an exception allowing him to purchase or sell securities for his own personal account. DaveGlo is similarly permanently enjoined from future violations. Both judgments include bankruptcy exception language under Section 523(a)(19) of the Bankruptcy Code, making the debts non-dischargeable.
Ortiz Used LA Radio Commercials and Investment Workshops to Pitch Resolute Capital Oil and Gas Deals
The oil and gas securities Ortiz sold were sponsored by Resolute Capital Partners and Homebound Resources — entities that the SEC had already charged in 2021 with making material misrepresentations and omissions in connection with more than $250M in unregistered offerings to retail investors. Resolute provided inflated oil production projections, misstated potential tax benefits, overstated cash reserves, and sold securities without registration. Ortiz joined the distribution network for these products through Beacon Global Group, which connected salespeople to the Resolute offerings and funneled transaction-based compensation to them in exchange.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Ortiz ran radio commercials on Los Angeles area stations to advertise his investment services and promote workshops he hosted at his Whittier offices. At those workshops, Ortiz discussed investment strategies with prospective investors and pitched the oil and gas securities without disclosing that he would receive payment for any resulting sales. The investors who attended believed they were receiving independent investment guidance. They were receiving a sales pitch for which Ortiz was being compensated by the product’s sponsor.
DaveGlo Served as the Pass-Through for Ortiz’s Transaction-Based Compensation He Never Disclosed
The structure of Ortiz’s compensation arrangement was not incidental to the violations — it was central to them. Under the Investment Advisers Act, an investment adviser who receives transaction-based compensation for recommending securities to clients is operating as a broker-dealer without the required registration, and is violating the fiduciary duty of disclosure that runs from an adviser to each client. Ortiz received his compensation through DaveGlo Investment Group, a company he controlled, which received payments from Beacon Global Group after Ortiz’s clients invested in the Resolute offerings.
None of Ortiz’s approximately 20 investors were told about this arrangement. The SEC’s position is that a reasonable investor would want to know whether the person recommending a risky, illiquid oil and gas investment is receiving a commission for doing so. The failure to disclose is not a paperwork violation — it removes the investor’s ability to assess whether the recommendation is made in their interest or the adviser’s. Many of Ortiz’s clients lost their investment entirely, as Resolute and Homebound failed to make interest payments and return principal to investors.
Ortiz Was Part of an $82M Three-Defendant SEC Action Filed the Same Day as Two Other Advisers
The SEC filed charges against Ortiz simultaneously with two other defendants on September 11, 2025. Florida-based podcast host Charles Oliver had raised approximately $52M through his Hidden Wealth Radio show and related seminars. Kevin Richards, a former investment adviser representative in California, had raised approximately $12M through email campaigns, networking events, and his own radio show. Together, the three men had sold approximately $82M in Resolute and Homebound securities to retail investors across multiple states, all while receiving undisclosed transaction-based compensation routed through various entities. None of the three were registered as broker-dealers, as required under federal law for anyone who receives transaction-based compensation for securities sales.
Ortiz settled the civil charges and was also separately barred from the securities industry through an SEC administrative proceeding concluded on August 29, 2025, which permanently prohibited him from associating with any broker, dealer, investment adviser, municipal securities dealer, municipal advisor, transfer agent, or nationally recognized statistical rating organization. The final civil judgments in the Central District of California, entered April 27, 2026 by Judge Fischer, permanently enjoin both Ortiz and DaveGlo from violating the charged provisions of the Securities Act, the Exchange Act, and the Investment Advisers Act.
Conclusion
The Ortiz case is a straightforward example of what the SEC calls affinity-adjacent fraud: an investment adviser who used the trust built through local radio advertising and community workshops to funnel clients into high-risk, unregistered securities while secretly collecting commissions from the product’s sponsor. The investors who sat through Ortiz’s Whittier workshops thought they were getting independent financial guidance. They were getting a paid pitch for a product that the SEC had already told the broader market was sold with material misrepresentations. The dual judgment structure — $1,037,128 against Ortiz personally and $987,128 against DaveGlo, with the entity’s payment going into a fund pending a distribution plan — means that recovery for harmed investors remains possible through court-supervised proceedings. The permanent injunction and industry bar ensure he cannot run the same scheme again.
