Tr?id=566623520170033&ev=PageView&noscript=1

SEC Accuses Upright Financial and Founder of Breaching Prior Settlement and Misleading Investors

Posted on April 24th, 2025 at 2:14 PM
SEC Accuses Upright Financial and Founder of Breaching Prior Settlement and Misleading Investors

From the desk of Jim Eccleston at Eccleston Law

According to InvestmentNews, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) has charged registered investment advisor Upright Financial Corp. and its founder, David Yow Shang Chiueh, for violating a prior settlement agreement and continuing a pattern of misconduct that allegedly defrauded investors and breached fiduciary duties.

Chiueh launched Upright Financial in the 1990s, alongside the Upright Investments Trust, which oversees a series of investment funds, including the Upright Growth Fund. As advisors to the fund, Chiueh and Upright Financial entered into a settlement with the SEC in 2021. That agreement resolved earlier allegations that the fund operated in a manner inconsistent with its classification as a diversified investment company and its stated concentration policy. Regulatory filings and shareholder communications had reinforced expectations of broad diversification, according to InvestmentNews.

Despite agreeing to cease such conduct, the SEC now alleges that Chiueh and Upright Financial failed to adhere to the terms of the settlement. The SEC alleges that the firm continued to concentrate more than 25 percent of the fund’s assets in a single industry through at least June 2024. These actions violated the fund’s concentration policy and misled both investors and the board of trustees. The SEC claims this conduct resulted in $1.6 million in losses for the fund and its shareholders.

The SEC’s new complaint also accuses Chiueh and Upright Financial of additional governance failures, including maintaining an insufficient number of independent trustees and falsely representing the independence of at least one board member in regulatory filings.

 

Eccleston Law LLC represents investors and financial advisors nationwide in securities, employment, transition, regulatory, and disciplinary matters.

Tags: eccleston, eccleston law, sec

Return to Archive

TESTIMONIALS

Previous
Next
Quotes Bigger

I want to extend a tremendous thank you for your dedication, professionalism, hard work and patient demeanor through this challenging time. It was enjoyable interacting with everyone on your team, this certainly helped while dealing with the situation and working towards resolution.

Dan M.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

1789155492 Law
September 11, 2026
SEC Considers Investor Test to Expand Accredited Investor Eligibility

The Securities and Exchange (SEC) Chairman Paul S.

1789059399 Law
September 10, 2026
Advisors Emphasize Early Planning as Key Defense Against Elder Financial Exploitation

Elder financial exploitation has reached crisis levels, according to InvestmentNews.

1789059201 Law
September 10, 2026
FINRA Arbitration Panel Awards $509,000 in Suit Over Conservation Easement Investments

InvestmentNews reports that a three-person arbitration panel under the aegis of Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) Dispute Resolution Services awarded $509,000 in damages to clients of Strategic Financial Alliance Inc.