SEC sues James Biden’s former business associate

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit this week alleging that a former business associate of James Biden, President Joe Biden’s younger brother, misled investors.

The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a lawsuit this week alleging that a former business associate of James Biden, President Joe Biden’s younger brother, misled investors.

While the 12-count civil complaint, filed in the Southern District of Florida, does not accuse James Biden of personal wrongdoing, it involves a business deal that he was directly involved in, court records show. 

The SEC accused James Biden's business associate, Michael Lewitt and his fund, Third Friday Management, of “fraudulent conduct and gross breaches of fiduciary duties” to their fund and its investors, according to the 28-page complaint filed in federal court on Thursday.

The complaint alleges that from roughly January 2018 to March 2020, Lewitt went from investing in S&P 500 index options to making 45 separate loan advances that totaled more than $19 million to a distressed company that operated rural hospitals. 

The SEC alleges, “Lewitt failed to disclose to the Fund’s investors” that he had taken a total of $30 million from the fund and invested it in a group of companies that invested in distressed health care companies and eventually went bankrupt.