Litigation Release No. 25027 / February 9, 2021 Securities and Exchange Commission v. Daniel Dirk Coddington, et al., No. 1:13-cv-03363-CMA-KMT (D. Colo. filed December 12, 2013) The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado has entered final default judgments against defendant Seth A. Leyton and relief defendant Coddington Family Trust in connection with a prime bank scheme orchestrated by Daniel Dirk Coddington. The SEC's complaint filed on December 12, 2013, alleged that Coddington defrauded investors by soliciting investments in a purported trading program involving Collateralized Mortgage Obligations (CMOs) that Coddington told investors would produce annual returns ranging from 250% to 475%. In fact, the complaint alleged, the trading program did not exist, and the majority of investor money was misappropriated. The complaint further alleged that Leyton, the owner of a securities brokerage firm, assisted Coddington by opening brokerage accounts that enabled Coddington to misappropriate investors' CMOs. Specifically, the complaint alleged that Leyton opened brokerage accounts at his brokerage firm to enable investors to transfer their CMOs to the defendants, delayed the return of the CMOs to investors, and sold or assisted in the selling of the CMOs contrary to the terms of the investment agreements with investors. The complaint also alleged that Coddington transferred funds illegally obtained from investors through the fraudulent scheme to the Coddington Family Trust. The SEC charged the Coddington Family Trust as a relief defendant in the 2013 action.