The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Texas resident Nathan Fuller with operating a $12.3 million cryptocurrency fraud. Fuller allegedly used his company Privvy Investments, LLC to solicit roughly 150 investors by falsely promising returns up to 100% from AI-powered trading bots and claiming funds were FDIC-insured. The scheme ran from October 2022 to mid-2024 according to the complaint.
The SEC has charged Nathan Fuller of Cypress, Texas, with running a fraudulent crypto scheme that raised $12.3 million. He operated through his company Privvy Investments, LLC under the name Gateway Digital Investments.
According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court, Fuller promised investors returns of 40% to 50% within 30 to 45 days. Some investors were told they could make guaranteed profits exceeding 100% in as little as 21 days.
Fuller claimed investor funds were secured by a surety bond and FDIC insurance. These claims, along with the existence of a professional liability insurance policy, were allegedly false.
He told investors proprietary AI-based trading bots would conduct high-frequency arbitrage trading. “Fuller’s bots did not function as represented,” the SEC’s complaint states.
Of the funds raised, Fuller allegedly misappropriated at least $6.2 million for personal expenses. Roughly $5.5 million was used to make Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors.
To sustain the scheme, he sent investors fake account statements and fabricated correspondence. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctions, disgorgement of gains, and civil penalties.
This case highlights the misuse of AI branding in crypto fraud. Last year, the agency charged multiple platforms in a separate $14 million scheme that also used AI claims to lure retail investors.
In a related action last month, the SEC charged crypto executive Donald Basile and two companies he controlled. They allegedly raised roughly $16 million through false claims tied to a crypto token called Bitcoin Latinum.
The agency has acknowledged some past enforcement actions lacked clear investor benefit. In a statement on its 2025 enforcement results, it noted 95 actions since fiscal year 2022 that “identified no direct investor harm.”
