SEC v. RAD Diversified REIT, Inc.
The SEC sued Tampa non-traded REIT RAD Diversified and its co-founders, alleging a fraudulent $152M unregistered offering to retail investors and roughly $54M diverted to an affiliate.
The SEC sued Tampa-based non-traded REIT RAD Diversified REIT, its co-founders Brandon 'Dutch' Mendenhall and Amy Vaughn, and related entity The Seminar Solution, LLC, alleging they raised $152M from 5,500+ retail investors through an unregistered, fraudulent offering between 2019 and 2024, then diverted roughly $54M to an affiliated entity for personal expenses while misrepresenting the REIT's profitability and liquidity.
Why it matters: Highlights intensified SEC scrutiny of non-traded REIT sponsors over related-party fund flows, valuation representations, and continued capital-raising after internal signs of distress (a declined credit line, mounting foreclosures, frozen redemptions). Sponsors, boards, and institutional counterparties of retail-facing REITs should revisit related-party transaction controls and disclosure practices in light of this enforcement theory.
