February 2 (SeeNews) - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has imposed a sanction of about $70,000 (62,000 euro) to Rita Mansour, the senior managing director of Mansour Wealth Management, for failing to respond adequately to alleged financial fraud in Montenegro, a SEC document showed on Wednesday.
"Respondent shall pay disgorgement of $22,968.75, prejudgment interest of $4,884.71 and civil penalties of $40,000.00, to the Securities and Exchange Commission for transfer to the general fund of the United States Treasury," the SEC said in a decision dated December 10, 2021.
Mansour Wealth Management and its partner McDonald Partners did not disclose the misappropriation of $488,331 of investor funds by their point-person in Montenegro in October 2016 by misusing a debit card to pay for certain personal expenses, the SEC said. After conceding that he was not entitled to certain of the funds alleged to have been misappropriated, the individual agreed to repay approximately $335,000 that he had allocated to personal expenses.
Between September 2013 and continuing through January 2017, Mansour and McDonald Partners offered and sold more than $14 million in securities to investors located in the U.S., to raise bridge funding for the construction of a five-star resort in Montenegro.
According to data from Montenegro's business register, Rita Mansour is a board member of local company Signature Investments Montenegro. Public broadcaster RTCG reported that Signature Investments Montenegro is the investor in a luxury tourist complex in Herceg Novi, a coastal town in Montenegro located at the entrance to the Bay of Kotor.
($ = 0.8829 euro)