What happened?
Andrew Spaventa, a former broker who runs The Spaventa Group, has been named in a complaint filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The regulator alleges that the firm operated a large-scale "boiler room" that sold shares of private, AI-related companies such as SpaceX, Anduril, Anthropic and Perplexity before they went public. According to the SEC, more than 800 investors, over 650 of whom invested $100,000 or less and more than 100 retirees, were persuaded to buy these shares over a four-and-a-half-year period from December 2020 to June 2025. The complaint says the scheme generated more than $74 million for eleven private funds based in Long Island and New Jersey.
"Boiler room raised $74 million selling retirees SpaceX, Anduril, Anthropic, and Perplexity while reaping 'massive hidden fees,' SEC claims,"
Why does it matter?
The case highlights growing regulatory scrutiny of the booming pre-IPO market, where private-company shares have become a hot commodity for retail investors chasing high-growth AI ventures. The SEC alleges that investors paid, on average, a 46 percent premium over the price the companies themselves paid for the shares, with some mark-ups reaching as high as 91 percent. If true, such inflated pricing and undisclosed fees could erode confidence in private-market investments and expose vulnerable retirees to significant financial loss.
What happens next?
The complaint was filed in the Southern District of New York. Spaventa has denied the allegations, and the matter will now move through the federal court system. Observers expect the SEC to continue pursuing similar cases as demand for private-company equity remains high, and the outcome could shape future enforcement actions and disclosure requirements for pre-IPO offerings.
Venture capital funding round highlights
While the SEC case unfolds, the European venture-capital scene remains active. Notable deals include:
- Gravis Robotics, a developer of autonomous construction equipment with bases in Zurich, Austin and Oxford, secured $200 million in Series A funding led by SoftBank.
- Peripheral, a Toronto-based AI firm turning live-sports video into 3-D experiences, raised $8.7 million in seed capital from Deloitte Ventures, Inovia Capital, Khosla Ventures and Entrepreneurs First.
- Entravel Group, a U.S. travel-booking infrastructure provider, obtained $7.5 million from Ethereal Ventures, Finality Capital and several other investors.
- InifiniG, a Los Gatos company offering mobile-network coverage for office buildings, closed a $5.2 million seed round led by J2 Ventures and Stormbreaker Ventures.
- Space, a San Francisco data-storage startup, raised $2.4 million in pre-seed funding from a16z Speedrun, Golden Ventures, Northside Ventures and angel investors.