Fake MIT Physicist Raised $26 Million for Startups, SEC Says

A California man falsely claimed to be an MIT-trained physicist who worked on secret government projects to raise $26 million for supposed battery technology and cancer-research startups, the SEC said in a fraud lawsuit.

Faiz M. Chowdhury, 54, actually spent most of the money on gambling, luxury travel and paying off investors who complained, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a suit filed Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles. According to the regulator, Chowdhury put only about $6.6 million of the money he raised into his companies — DTI Holdings Inc. and Quantum Age Corp.

Chowdhury ...