麻花传媒

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 麻花传媒

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.

 

麻花传媒 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

You were most helpful with my FINRA deposition. You are a good lawyer and a good person.

Dan B.

LATEST NEWS AND ARTICLES

July 3, 2025
FINRA Proposes Rule Change to Delay Immediate Sanctions Pending SEC Review

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has proposed a rule change that would allow broker-dealers and registered representatives to seek a stay of certain disciplinary sanctions before those penalties take effect.

July 2, 2025
SEC Panel Calls for Tighter Limits on RIAs' Mandatory Arbitration Clauses

AdvisorHub reports that the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Investor Advisory Committee has finalized a recommendation urging the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) to rein in the use of mandatory arbitration clauses by registered investment advisers (“RIA”s).

July 1, 2025
State Regulators Fine Five Major Broker-Dealers Nearly $10 Million for Excessive Commission Charges

A coalition of state securities regulators has ordered five broker-dealers — including Edward Jones, LPL Financial, RBC, Stifel, and TD Ameritrade — to pay almost $9.9 million in penalties for overcharging customers on small-value trades.