The Corporation Commission ordered hedge fund manager Christopher S. Walkup of Scottsdale and his affiliated company Wealthcorp, LLC to pay $1,268,446 in restitution and $296,000 in administrative penalties for defrauding investors.
The Commission found Mr. Walkup and his company engaged in twenty transactions with multiple investors. The Commission found Mr. Walkup touted his investing and business acumen and described himself as the manager of a large hedge fund without disclosing information necessary to assess the truth of these claims. Mr. Walkup or his company were not registered to offer or sell securities in Arizona.
The Commission found the investors purchased shares of stock in Amylex Pharmaceuticals, a Philippines-based company and/or Northsight Capital, a company in the marijuana business.
Among the litany of material omissions and misleading statements, the Commission found Mr. Walkup overstated the company stock’s prospective value increase in a matter of months but omitted the company’s past performance, non-existent revenue, operating losses and liabilities. Additionally, the Commission found Mr. Walkup failed to discuss financial risks and provide offerees and investors financial or operation information as required by law.