EquiAlt Receivership: Investors Paid 107% of Allowed Claims, $8,876,123.76 Cash Left on September 30, 2026

What this page is

Most pages about stuck money tell you what went wrong. This one is unusual because, on the court record, the money mostly came back. We read the SEC's release, the court's final judgment against the company's chief executive, the court order approving the second distribution, the receiver's motion for the third and five of his quarterly reports. We did not find a criminal case in these documents, and we make no statement about one.

Everything the SEC says about how the offering worked is an allegation. What is fact is the document record: what was filed, what the court approved and what the receiver reports he paid. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.

The case in dates

What the SEC alleged

The SEC says EquiAlt sold unregistered securities in its funds, EquiAlt Fund, EquiAlt Fund II, EquiAlt Fund III and EA SIP, and that a number of investors used retirement money.

The court's final judgment of August 5, 2021, entered on the chief executive's consent, sets liability of $27,013,060; the judgment says the payment obligation is deemed satisfied if he turns over a listed set of assets to the receiver within 30 days.

The three distributions

How 107% is built

The third distribution is the surprise. The receiver told the court that the estate was worth more than the approved claims and asked to pay investors for the time value of their money. His method uses the average return of the S&P 500 from February 14, 2020 to May 31, 2025, applied to the reduced amounts still owed after each prior payment, and he calls the resulting 10.0485% a form of benefit-of-the-bargain damages. The court approved the motion on September 11, 2025 (Doc. 1360).

• $140 million distributed at 93.8% of Allowed Amounts implies approved investor claims of about $149.3 million (our arithmetic: $140 million divided by 0.938).
• Adding the third distribution gives $160 million paid, about 107% of $149.3 million (our arithmetic). That matches the receiver's "107%".
• Against the SEC's alleged $170 million raised, $160 million is about 94% (our arithmetic). Investors' Allowed Amounts are what the receiver's claims process approved, not what they paid in, so the two percentages measure different things.

Who has not been paid

The 27th report says only two checks, for one claimant and a total of $28,078.49, remained outstanding on September 30, 2026, because of issues relating to the death of the claimant. The receiver filed an interpleader action in Maryland on August 17, 2026 and sent the funds to that court's registry. In the 18th report (June 30, 2024) the outstanding obligations were $303,987.85 from the first distribution and $3,634,836.82 from the second.

What is left in the estate

The fund balance was $12,166,918.56 on June 30, 2024, then $8,831,667.16 on March 31, 2026, $9,032,632.47 on June 30, 2026 and $8,876,123.76 on September 30, 2026. In the July to September 2026 quarter the receiver collected $6,887.05 of interest and dividends and $900 from third parties and spent $63,052.05 on business assets.

The three pending sales add up to about $7.84 million gross (our arithmetic: $1,092,000 plus $3,000,000 plus $3,750,000), before costs, and the receiver does not give a net figure for each. The receiver says the Cypress closing was expected within 10 days and the Treasure Island closing within two weeks of October 30, 2026.

Suits against third parties

The sales-agent line is small now: $900 in the latest quarter. The open items that move the cash are the property sales above, the court's decision on the Merrill Lynch accounts and a dispute over platinum and gold coins that the receiver says the former chief executive did not turn over.

What happens next

• Closing date. The magistrate judge recommended that the receivership file its final report and close by December 31, 2026. The receiver objected on May 4, 2026 and said the timeline is impossible; on September 11, 2026 he asked for a status conference, which was pending on October 30, 2026.
• One more distribution. The 27th report says "There will be an additional distribution". He says another distribution before closing would be expensive and intends only one final distribution after sales and closing tasks are done.
• Size. The documents give no figure. The estate holds $8.88 million plus pending sales, while the court-approved claims have been paid in full and more. We cannot say what the receiver will keep for costs or how any surplus will be shared; those are for the court.
• Next report. The quarterly pattern puts the 28th report at about January 30, 2027.

What a reader can do with this

This page does not say whether you will receive more money. Here is what the record supports.

1. Check your own distributions. If you held EquiAlt securities, compare what you received with the receiver's statement of your Allowed Amount. A recovery above your approved amount in 2025 came from the third distribution's extra component, not from a separate payment.
2. Think about the tax paper. The third distribution included an amount above investors' approved claims, described by the receiver as compensation for the time value of money. How that is treated on your return, and what paperwork you received, is a question for a tax adviser.
3. Watch the receiver's own page. The receiver posts every report and order at equialtreceivership.com. The final distribution would show up as a motion and an order there.
4. Decide what to do with the cash. For a holder repaid in full, the question is now where to place the money. See our pages on Wells Real Estate Investment receivership, where no claims process is open yet, First Liberty Building and Loan and GPB Capital for how other receiverships have gone.

What is not known

• The size and date of the final distribution.
• Whether the district court will adopt the magistrate judge's December 31, 2026 recommendation.
• How the Merrill Lynch accounts and the dispute over coins will be settled.
• What the three pending sales will net after costs, and what the brewery interests are worth.
• Whether any criminal case followed the SEC action: none of the documents we read mentions one.

FAQ

All figures are from primary documents read on November 10, 2026: the SEC litigation release LR-24740 (February 18, 2020); the final judgment against the chief executive (ECF 355-1, August 5, 2021); the court order of May 22, 2024 (Doc. 1154); the receiver's motion for a third interim distribution (Doc. 1326, May 23, 2025); and the receiver's twelfth (Doc. 793), eighteenth (Doc. 1194), twenty-fifth (Doc. 1407), twenty-sixth (Doc. 1421) and twenty-seventh (Doc. 1436) quarterly status reports, posted at equialtreceivership.com.