The SEC's complaint alleges that, due to Illarramendi's misappropriation and his Ponzi activity,
the funds hold assets worth substantially less than that amount.
The SEC previously charged Illarramendi and his firm MK Capital Management LLC in January
and obtained an asset freeze against them, alleging that they had misappropriated at least $53 million in investor assets.
During the SEC's investigation in December 2010 and January 2011, Illarramendi attempted to hide the fact that his hedge funds
were missing assets by providing the SEC staff with a false letter from an accountant in Venezuela that purported to verify the existence of approximately $275 million in assets held by one of the funds.