Court Enters Final Judgment Against Vika Ventures CEO for $6 Million Fraud
The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia entered a final judgment against George Iakovou, in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission case alleging that he fraudulently offered and sold more than $6 million of securities to at least 46 individual investors in multiple states including California, Georgia, and New York.
The SEC’s complaint filed in December 2022 alleged that Iakovou and his company, Vika Ventures LLC, offered to sell investors shares of private companies that might hold an initial public offering. The complaint noted that Iakovou enticed investors with fictitious pricing information.
According to the complaint, the Vika website controlled by Iakovou contained materially false and misleading information that led potential and actual investors to believe that Vika had previously participated in major IPOs when, in fact, it had not. The Vika website also touted participation in funding rounds for high-profile private companies. Vika never participated in any funding rounds and never acquired interest in any such securities.
Thus, Iakovou and Vika Ventures did not own the shares at the time of the solicitations and never acquired them, according to the complaint. Rather than purchasing the securities, Iakovou allegedly used investor funds to support his lavish lifestyle.
As chief executive officer of Vika Ventures, Iakovou also allegedly used fraudulent documentation and statements to convince investors that Vika Ventures was a successful venture capital firm. According to the SEC’s complaint, Penelope Zbravos, Iakovou’s then-girlfriend, encountered sufficient red flags regarding the company’s operations to make her a negligent participant in Vika Ventures.
The court also issued a final judgment against Penelope Zbravos, who previously entered into a consent judgment permanently enjoining her from future violations of Section 17(a)(3) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 for her negligent actions. The final judgment imposes disgorgement and prejudgment interest of just over $1.8 million that has been deemed satisfied by the restitution ordered against her in the parallel criminal case.
The court previously issued a final judgment against Vika Ventures and imposed a penalty of nearly $9 million, among other remedies.
The SEC’s litigation in this matter is now concluded.
In the parallel criminal case, in August 2023, Iakovou pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. On Jan. 3, 2024, Iakovou was sentenced to 97 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Iakovou was also ordered to pay restitution of nearly $6 million. Zbravos was charged with one count of misprision of a felony and entered into pre-trial diversion agreement.
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