As per a Joint Notice filed on June 2nd, the SEC and defendant Eric J. Dalius will return to mediation.
With the Saivian fraud trial scheduled for September 2022, this would appear to be the last change for Dalius to settle and avoid potentially harsher penalties in court.
Dalius and the SEC had intended to return to mediation during June or July. They were unable to do so though due to scheduling conflicts between Dalius and his attorney.
Consequently the parties and mediation Judge are available in “early August”.
The Joint Notice states the parties have been informed “an order confirming the Parties’ August 5 mediation will be issued shortly.”
Initial attempts to mediate the Saivian fraud case failed last July.
As per the Joint Notice;
Throughout the litigation, the Parties have engaged in productive settlement discussions.
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 concluded since the last attempt at mediation provides a basis for their optimism that they will be able to resolve these remaining issues through mediation.
Given Saivian was an obvious Ponzi scheme, through which Dalius and co-defendant Ryan Evans (right) committed securities fraud through, going to trial isn’t likely to end well for them.
I’ll continue to monitor the case docket for settlement updates. Failing which, I believe the September 20th trial date still stands.