The U.S. SEC has charged Texas fund manager Khalid Parekh with illegally investing $18.5 million of client funds in cryptocurrencies without their consent. From August 2021 to August 2022, Parekh raised $18.5 million from 373 investors in 40 states through his wholly owned company Fair Invest. He mainly attracted investors from the American Muslim community through radio shows, podcasts and media interviews, and claimed that his fund complied with Islamic law. Parekh promised investors an annualized return of 4%, claiming that these returns came from traditional assets such as stocks, mutual funds, commodities and ETFs. However, the SEC's allegations showed that he actually invested client funds in two cryptocurrency lending platforms without informing investors. During the SEC's investigation, Parekh returned client funds along with the promised 4% return. In addition, he agreed to pay a $100,000 fine and revoke his investment advisor registration with the SEC. (DL News)

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