California Firm Bilked Investors Out of $119 Million, SEC Says

A California real estate development company and its owner cheated investors out of $119 million in a scheme targeting South Asians in the U.S., the SEC said.

Sanjeev Acharya and his Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Silicon Sage Builders secured the money from about 250 retail investors, most of whom belonged to the Northern California South Asian community, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Monday.

Acharya described his business as profitable, but all but one of his company’s projects had major cost overruns and didn’t earn enough to ...