SEC v. Gregory Lemelson, Lemelson Capital Management, LLC, and The Amvona Fund (short and distort, 2018)

Judgment entered

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In September 2018 the SEC sued hedge fund adviser Gregory Lemelson and Lemelson Capital Management over allegedly false statements about Ligand Pharmaceuticals. A Boston jury found them liable on three statements in November 2021, and on 30 March 2022 the court entered a final judgment with a five-year injunction and a $160,000 penalty against Lemelson.

The record

What was ordered

Civil penalty

$160k

Disgorgement

—

Prejudgment interest

—

Total relief

$160k

Alleged gain

$1.3m

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 September 13, 2018 as release LR-24267. The respondents named are Gregory Lemelson, Lemelson Capital Management, LLC and The Amvona Fund (1 individual, 2 entities). The action was brought in the U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts.

This library tags the matter as short and distort, based on the conduct the regulator describes. Each tag links to a page explaining how that technique works, what statute it engages, and what penalties comparable actions have attracted. The tagging is ours, not the regulator's: agencies charge statutory provisions, not technique names.

The conduct is recorded against equities.

Two later SEC litigation releases show the case went to trial. On 5 November 2021 a jury in Boston found Lemelson and his firm liable for three false or misleading statements about Ligand, while not finding them liable on certain other charges and allegations. On 30 March 2022 the District of Massachusetts entered a final judgment enjoining both from antifraud violations for five years and ordering Lemelson to pay a $160,000 civil penalty. The SEC's releases state no disgorgement or interest, and they do not address The Amvona Fund, a named defendant. We did not check whether the judgment was appealed.

What technique is this, and how does it work?

This action is tagged with one technique in our taxonomy. The tagging is ours: regulators charge statutory provisions, not technique names, so the mapping is an editorial judgement described in our editorial policy.

• Short and distort — see how it works, what statute it engages, and every other action tagged the same way.

Timeline

1. 2018-09-13 Litigation release published
2. 2021-11-05 Jury finds Lemelson and Lemelson Capital Management liable on three false statements
3. 2022-03-30 Final judgment entered: five-year injunction and $160,000 penalty against Lemelson

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 LR-25258 (jury verdict)
• SEC litigation release LR-25353 (final judgment)

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 3 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.

Related actions

Other actions in the library sharing at least one technique tag with this one.

Record added September 20, 2026. submit a correction.