A man from north Fulton County is being accused of fraud and bilking millions from investors who thought they were putting money towards the development of a high-performance submarine and national security business.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed an enforcement action Tuesday against Timothy S. Batchelor, 44, of Alpharetta. The civil lawsuit filed with the United States Northern District Court of Georgia accuses Batchelor of six counts of fraud. The SEC is demanding a jury trial.
The SEC’s complaint accuses Batchelor of misusing $1.2 million in investments, which is about half of what he raised through an investment fund called Specter Ventures.
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Outlined in the complaint are examples of how Batchelor apparently spent that $1.2 million. The SEC says he spent $233,000 on new vehicles, used $225,000 to pay off student loans, paid $29,000 for classes at Georgetown University, gave $44,000 to his mom, gave $80,000 to his wife and spent $25,000 on luxury watches. He also withdrew $172,000 in cashier checks, the SEC says.
According to the SEC’s complaint, Batchelor later tried to cover his tracks by “belatedly fabricating” a document to describe the unauthorized expenditures as a loan. The SEC also says that Batchelor was not registered with the SEC at any time he raised funds.
The SEC says Batchelor’s fraud happened between October 2014 and November 2015. Specter Ventures Fund’s status as a limited liability corporation in Georgia was terminated in March 2016.
Specter Ventures held military contracts, the SEC said, including one for a submarine.
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A year earlier, on March 2, 2015, Specter Ventures Fund filed a form with the SEC which indicated that the total amount of interests in the fund sold between Feb. 16, 2015 and March 2, 2015 was $70 million. The SEC found that to be false and that only $900,000 had been sold, according to the lawsuit.
The SEC's complaint alleges Batchelor violated Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5, Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. The complaint seeks a repayment of Batchelor’s gains, plus interest and penalties, as well as permanent injunctions against Batchelor that restrain him from taking money from future investors.
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