Article
Litigation Update: SEC Charges Former Tricolor CEO Daniel Chu, Other Executives With Fraud, Adding to USAG Criminal Charges
Relevant Document:
Complaint (Refiled Aug. 19)
On Aug. 18, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged former Tricolor CEO Daniel Chu, former CFO Jerome Kollar and former Finance Director Ameryn Seibold for their roles in the fraud that “ensured” Tricolor’s collapse.
In December 2025, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York indicted Chu and other Tricolor executives. Chu will head to trial on Jan. 25, 2027, to face federal fraud charges, while Seibold and Kollar separately entered plea deals and are cooperating with the government.
Tricolor chapter 7 trustee Anne Burns in December 2025 also sued Chu and other former executives, but the case is stayed pending the January 2027 criminal trial.
The SEC suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, echoes allegations previously raised in the criminal case and by the trustee. Specifically, the SEC alleges that from 2020 through 2025, the defendants “misrepresented auto loan receivables used as collateral” to obtain necessary operating liquidity and claimed that the loans were “free and clear of other liens” when many had been or would soon be double-pledged.
The SEC also alleges that the defendants made numerous false representations to investors, underwriters and warehouse lenders in Tricolor’s financial statements. From at least 2022 through 2025, Kollar and Seibold also lied to auditors to cover up discrepancies in Tricolor’s loan data, according to the complaint.
The complaint claims that after financial institutions raised concerns regarding audit issues and data discrepancies, Tricolor’s executive team participated in a series of phone calls, some of which were secretly recorded by a participant. On these calls, the SEC claims Chu “brainstormed various ways to conceal the fraudulent scheme, including by fabricating policies to explain delinquency data and proposing that they blame the double-pledging and data manipulations on a ‘system issue.’”
The SEC charges Chu, Kollar and Seibold with violating the antifraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The complaint also asserts control person liability against Chu, as well as aiding and abetting liability against all three defendants.
The complaint seeks injunctive relief, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest, civil monetary penalties against all defendants and officer and director bars against Chu and Kollar.
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