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

If the regulators are after you, and are trying to make a case against you, and you are going to contest their allegations against you, make sure you have the best securities industry defense lawyers, Eccleston Law Firm. My case was spun into a combination of penalties including fines, cash settlements, CE courses and suspension. They were the best I have seen in action. When all was said and done, they had done their magic, my situation was negotiated and settled with a simple "letter of caution" and a case closed without action. It is the most important legal business decision you will ever make, make it Eccleston Law.

Rick R.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

April 29, 2025
Merrill Lynch Fires Veteran Advisor for Ignoring Mandated Commission Discounts

Merrill Lynch has terminated Daniel G. Diaz, a 37-year industry veteran, for refusing to apply commission discounts to certain client accounts as instructed by management, according to his Central Registration Depository (CRD) record.

April 28, 2025
Former Morgan Stanley Advisor Barred After Fraudulent Check Allegations

Roger A. Gallagher has accepted an industry bar from FINRA rather than cooperate with a regulatory investigation. According to a FINRA Acceptance, Waiver, and Consent letter (“AWC”).

April 25, 2025
Rosedale Advisory Firm Fined for Role in NCAA Player Referral Bribery Scheme

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has finalized a cease-and-desist proceeding against Rosedale, a former SEC-registered investment adviser, for violations of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940.