SEC v. Bin Hao, Qidian, LLC — U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Release No. 26500, dated March 17, 2026.
The SEC charged Bin Hao and Qidian LLC with operating a Ponzi scheme that defrauded Chinese American investors. Hao and Qidian allegedly raised at least $10.3 million by misrepresenting investments in real estate ventures, while actually using new investor funds to pay earlier investors and misappropriating over $793,000 for personal expenses. A final judgment ordered Hao to pay over $2.2 million in disgorgement, interest, and penalties.
Imagine someone promises you a really high return, like 8-25% a year, on an investment. They say your money will be used to lend to a real estate company. But, the real estate company stopped paying back the loans. Instead of telling investors the truth, the person kept taking new money and used it to pay off the earlier investors, like a pyramid scheme. They also took some of the money for themselves. The court ordered them to pay back the money and a penalty.
Disclaimer: all facts are drawn from the SEC's own filings; the claims described are allegations unless and until a court rules or the parties settle, and some cases end in dismissal.
On March 5, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida entered a final judgment against defendant Bin Hao in the SEC’s civil enforcement action against Hao and his company, Qidian LLC. The SEC’s complaint alleged that from at least January 2017 to as late as 2021, Hao and Qidian sold promissory notes and membership interests in various special purpose vehicles to investors with high annual return rates of 8-25% to facilitate providing loans to a Miami-based real estate company. The complaint alleged that starting in January 2019, the Miami real estate company ceased paying nearly all interest on loans it received from Qidian. Nevertheless, Qidian and Hao allegedly continued to solicit investors after January 2019, and raised at least $10.3 million while misrepresenting that Qidian was using investor proceeds to invest in real estate ventures to generate “guaranteed” annual investment returns. The complaint further alleged that Qidian and Hao used more than $2.3 million of new investor money to pay prior investors’ interest in a Ponzi-like fashion, and Hao misappropriated at least $793,267 to pay personal expenses. Without admitting or denying the allegations made in the complaint, Hao and Qidian consented to bifurcated judgments, entered by the Court on March 6, 2025, in which they agreed to be permanently enjoined from violating Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder; and to pay disgorgement with prejudgment interest and/or a civil payment in amounts determined by the Court upon motion by the Commission. In addition, Hao agreed to an officer-and-director bar. The final judgment as to Hao, which concludes the SEC’s litigation on this matter, ordered Hao to pay disgorgement of $1,526,484, prejudgment interest of $475,201, and a civil penalty of $236,451, for a total of $2,238,136.
Named in this action: Bin Hao, Qidian, LLC.