The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has filed a lawsuit against Ian O. Mausner and Evolution Lending, LLC.

The SEC’s complaint, submitted at the California Southern District Court on June 23, 2025, alleges that from no later than December 2020 through at least January 2022, Mausner – a recidivist who previously had a SEC cease-and-desist order and industry/associational bar issued against him due to securities law violations- and Evolution Lending, LLC, an entity that Mausner controlled, defrauded investors in connection with an unregistered offering of limited partnership interests in a pooled investment vehicle that they called the Cryptocurrency Growth Fund L.P.

In total, Mausner and Evolution raised approximately $413,000 from investors across multiple states.

Defendants sold interests in the Fund through false and misleading statements and omissions regarding Mausner’s disciplinary history and crypto asset-related investments. For example, they informed investors that Mausner was the principal of Evolution and had “30 years of experience in the financial advisory and money management industry,” but conveniently failed to mention that the SEC had previously barred him from the securities industry.

Further, they told investors that the Fund would invest in crypto assets and hold them at specific crypto asset trading platforms; however, Defendants never held any Fund-related assets on those platforms.

In addition to making false and misleading representations, Defendants also deposited the money that investors contributed to the Fund to Evolution’s bank accounts and Mausner’s personal bank accounts, mixing—or commingling—Fund assets with completely unrelated assets in the process.

Throughout this period, Defendants, each acting as an investment adviser under Section 202(a)(11) of the Advisers Act, 15 U.S.C. §80b-2(a)(11), received ill-gotten management and performance fees for services that they promised, but never provided.

In so doing, Mausner not only violated the antifraud provisions of the securities laws, he also violated the aforementioned industry/associational bar by acting as an investment adviser.

In addition to violating the antifraud provisions of the Exchange Act and Securities Act, Defendants’ false and misleading statements and commingling of investor funds breached their fiduciary duties to the Fund as investment advisers, including their duties of utmost good faith and full and fair disclosure of all material facts, and their affirmative obligation to employ reasonable care to avoid misleading the Fund, in violation of the Adviser Act’s antifraud provisions.

On top of this, the defendants never registered their fraudulent offering of interests in the Fund with the SEC, and no exemptions from the registration requirement applied to the offering.

The SEC seeks an order against the defendants permanently enjoining them from future violations of these provisions, requiring them to pay disgorgement plus prejudgment interest on any ill-gotten gains, and to pay civil monetary penalties.

Ian O. Mausner, age 64, resides in San Diego, CA. Mausner previously founded and operated J.S. Oliver Capital Management, L.P. (“J.S. Oliver”), an investment adviser registered with the Commission from 2004 until its revocation in 2016. On June 17, 2016, the Commission issued an Order Imposing Remedial Sanctions against Mausner and J.S. Oliver for engaging in fraudulent misconduct, and following an appeal and settlement, on May 16, 2019, the Commission issued an Order Making Findings and Imposing Remedial Sanctions and a Cease-and-Desist Order against Mausner and J.S. Oliver for engaging in fraudulent misconduct.

Evolution Lending, LLC is a dissolved Nevada limited liability company that was formed on July 12, 2011, with its principal place of business in Reno, Nevada. Evolution was the Fund’s general partner and Mausner was Evolution’s principal.

On October 6, 2015, Evolution applied, as an investment business, for foreign company registration in California and it was granted. On December 4, 2020, Mausner canceled the company’s California registration. As of August 6, 2021, Evolution no longer had any known, active bank accounts, having transferred the funds to bank accounts controlled by Mausner and in his name. Evolution has never been registered with the Commission in any capacity.

The Cryptocurrency Growth Fund L.P. is an active California limited partnership and private fund founded and managed by Mausner, with its principal place of business in Manhattan Beach, CA. The Fund has never been registered with the Commission in any capacity.