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The SEC and defendant Eric J. Dalius will return to mediation, according to a joint notice filed on June 2nd.
With the Saivian fraud trial set for September 2022, this appears to be Dalius’ final chance to settle and avoid potentially harsher penalties in court.
Dalius and the SEC planned to resume mediation in June or July. However, due to scheduling conflicts between Dalius and his attorney, they were unable to do so. Consequently, in “early August,” the parties and mediator will be available.
The parties have been informed that “an order confirming the parties’ August 5 mediation will be issued shortly,” according to the Joint Notice.
Last July, initial attempts to mediate the Saivian fraud case failed.
According to the Joint Notice, the parties have engaged in fruitful settlement discussions throughout the litigation.
While a number of additional issues must be resolved if the parties are to reach a settlement, the substantial progress the parties have made through their informal settlement discussions, as well as the additional discovery completed since the last attempt at mediation, gives them hope that they will be able to resolve these remaining issues through mediation.
Given that Saivian was a clear Ponzi scheme through which Dalius and co-defendant Ryan Evans (right) committed securities fraud, they are unlikely to fare well at trial.
I’ll keep an eye on the case docket for any settlement updates. If that fails, I believe the September 20th trial date is still in effect.
