SEC v. Diana Mae Fernandez (2023)

Settled

✓ Checked against the primary document on October 4, 2026. The library's summary, tags and figures for this record were compared with the regulator's own document by an AI model (Claude) following written instructions, with sampled and disputed records read a second time. No lawyer has reviewed them. A checked record can still contain errors, and checked does not mean endorsed. See how we check records or report a correction.

Report an error in this record (sec-diana-mae-fernandez-2023) by email

In December 2023 the SEC charged Diana Mae Fernandez over an alleged offering fraud. She consented to a final judgment on July 10, 2025 with disgorgement of $296,021, treated as satisfied by criminal forfeiture, after a 33-month prison sentence.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

—

Disgorgement

$296k

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$296k

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 December 28, 2023 as release LR-25918. The complaint alleges a $360,000 offering fraud in which Fernandez spent investor money on living expenses and hotels and made Ponzi-like payments to earlier investors, with an indictment pending in the same district. An officer-and-director bar is sought.

This library does not tag the matter as a Ponzi scheme: on a source check, the document mentions Ponzi-like payments only in passing, or as part of another party's scheme, and the charges are about something else. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

A parallel criminal proceeding is referenced. Civil and criminal outcomes are recorded separately, because they resolve on different standards of proof.

The SEC reported on July 11, 2025 that the Northern District of West Virginia entered a consent final judgment against Fernandez on July 10, 2025. It enjoins her from violating Section 10(b) with Rule 10b-5 and Section 17(a), enjoins her from offering or selling securities, and orders disgorgement of $296,021, treated as satisfied by her criminal forfeiture. The release adds that she pleaded guilty to wire fraud in a parallel case and on March 27, 2025 was sentenced to 33 months, three years of supervised release, and $330,144 in restitution and forfeiture.

The release does not say whether she admitted the SEC's allegations in the civil settlement.

Timeline

1. 2023-12-28 Litigation release published
2. 2025-07-10 Consent final judgment entered

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
• SEC litigation release reporting the outcome

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.