SEC v. Denis Georgiyevich Sotnikov, et al. (fake certificate-of-deposit fraud, 2021)

Judgment entered

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In 2021, the Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a judgment against Denis Georgiyevich Sotnikov, Adaptive Technology LLC, AGQ Business Group LLC, ATL Business Group LLC, BO&SA Corporation, DN Industrial LLC and Expert Digital LLC. A default final judgment finds Sotnikov and his six entities ran the fake-CD scheme: $2,628,260 disgorgement collectively, a $2,535,611 penalty on Sotnikov and $975,230 on each entity (about $8.39 million in penalties). Relief defendants owe a further $1,277,900. The release records a civil penalty of $8,386,991, disgorgement of $2,628,260.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$8.4m

Disgorgement

$2.6m

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$11m

Alleged gain

—

A dash means the release did not state a figure we could extract, not that the figure is zero. Penalty and disgorgement are stored separately so aggregates across the library do not double-count the same dollars.

What is alleged to have happened

the Securities and Exchange Commission announced this matter on October 26, 2021 as release LR-25247. The respondents named are Denis Georgiyevich Sotnikov, Adaptive Technology LLC, AGQ Business Group LLC, ATL Business Group LLC, BO&SA Corporation, DN Industrial LLC and Expert Digital LLC (1 individual, 6 entities).

This library carries no technique tag on this matter. "Spoofed" describes copied bank websites in a fake-CD fraud, not trading orders, so no spoofing tag applies.

A default final judgment finds Sotnikov and his six entities ran the fake-CD scheme: $2,628,260 disgorgement collectively, a $2,535,611 penalty on Sotnikov and $975,230 on each entity (about $8.39 million in penalties). Relief defendants owe a further $1,277,900.

The relief recorded in our data is a civil monetary penalty of $8,386,991, disgorgement of $2,628,260. Penalty and disgorgement are distinct: disgorgement returns the gain, while the penalty is punitive. We store them separately so that aggregate figures across the library are not double-counted.

For the regulator's own account of the facts, read the primary document linked above. This page deliberately summarises the structured record rather than reproducing the release.

Timeline

1. 2021-10-26 Litigation release published

Primary documents

Everything on this page derives from the documents below. Where our summary and the primary document disagree, the primary document is right.

• SEC litigation release

The linked release is a work of the United States government and is not subject to copyright. Our summary and narrative above are our own writing.

Same matter

The library links these 2 records because they appear to concern one matter: the same lead defendant, an overlapping technique tag and close filing dates, or a shared court docket or a release that cites the other. Records are listed by date filed.

This grouping is the library's, made by matching names, techniques, dates and citations when the site is built. It is not the regulator's or a court's determination that the records are one case, and it errs towards missing a link rather than making a false one.

Record added September 10, 2026. submit a correction.