It is a long and rarely-traveled road between receiving a subpoena for documents or testimony from the SEC and actually getting yourself arrested, but Anthony Coronati completed the journey down that road today when he was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service.
In announcing the arrest today, the SEC stated that it is investigating whether Coronati, the founder of a business known as Bidtoask.com, commingled investor funds with other money in an account he controlled and used it to pay personal expenses. In connection with its investigation, the SEC issued two subpoenas requiring Coronati to produce documents and give testimony.
Coronati began blazing his path to being arrested when he failed to either produce documents or appear for testimony in response to the SEC's subpoenas. In response, the SEC commenced a subpoena enforcement action in federal court in which it obtained a court order on November 7, 2013, requiring Coronati to comply with the SEC subpoenas. Coronati, ignored this court order, as well.
On January 17, 2014, the court found Coronati in civil contempt for ignoring its order, and ordered Coronati to pay $4,812 to the SEC to reimburse the agency for its costs of serving him with court papers in this proceeding. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested Coronati today and brought him before Judge William H. Pauley III of the SDNY. Judge Pauley released Coronati on a $50,000 bond and restricted his travel to the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York.
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