Keith R. Gebert, founder and sole owner of Rightbridge Private Capital LLC, has been barred from the investment industry by the SEC. The order follows findings that he steered roughly 36 advisory clients into a real estate fund that later collapsed, leaving approximately $10 million in client investments unrecovered.
What happened
The SEC announced settled charges against Gebert on September 24, 2026, in an administrative proceeding captioned AP File No. 3-22753. According to the order, from October 2020 through March 2023, Gebert advised approximately 36 advisory clients to invest approximately $10 million in a private fund focused on real estate investments.
In exchange for those recommendations, Gebert received more than $500,000 in referral fees from a real estate company affiliated with the fund. He never disclosed the fees to his clients. The SEC found that the nondisclosure breached his fiduciary duty and contradicted material representations he had made to those same clients.
Keith Gebert and Rightbridge Private Capital
Rightbridge Private Capital was a New Jersey-registered investment adviser. Gebert was its founder, sole owner, and managing member. No compliance officer or independent partner stood between him and his clients’ money.
The order finds that Gebert willfully violated Sections 206(1) and 206(2) of the Investment Advisers Act of 1940. Those provisions prohibit an adviser from employing any device to defraud a client or from engaging in any course of business that operates as a fraud upon a client. Gebert agreed to the order without admitting the findings.
What investors lost
The real estate fund at the center of the case has ceased all operations. The SEC found that nearly all of Gebert’s clients have been unable to recover their investments. The sanctions against Gebert do not create a restitution fund for those investors.
| SEC sanction against Gebert | Amount |
|---|---|
| Disgorgement of referral fees | $509,350 |
| Prejudgment interest | $135,138 |
| Civil money penalty | $150,000 |
| Total monetary relief | $794,488 |
Gebert was also barred from associating with any investment adviser, broker, dealer, or investment company. A cease-and-desist order accompanies the bar. Monetary relief of this size rarely makes harmed clients whole, because SEC collections are paid to the Treasury rather than distributed to victims.
Clients who recover will most likely need to pursue their own claims. That is where private securities litigation comes in.
Red flags that should have been caught
The Rightbridge case follows a familiar pattern in adviser misconduct. Investors can protect themselves by watching for the same warning signs.
- Undisclosed outside payments. Any recommendation into a single private fund deserves a written question: does the adviser receive compensation from anyone connected to that fund?
- Concentration in one illiquid fund. Nearly every client of the firm was steered into the same real estate vehicle. Diversification is the first defense against a collapse.
- A one-person shop with no oversight. A founder who is also the sole owner and managing member faces no internal check on his own recommendations.
- Affiliated-party payments. The referral fees here came from a real estate company affiliated with the fund. Any affiliation between an adviser and a recommended investment demands full written disclosure.
What affected investors can do now
Rightbridge clients who lost money still have options beyond the SEC’s order. Claims based on breach of fiduciary duty and fraudulent misrepresentation are frequently pursued in civil court, and claims tied to brokerage accounts can proceed through FINRA arbitration. State-law deadlines can expire within a few years of the loss, so the clock matters.
Documents matter too. Account statements, the advisory agreement, fund subscription papers, and any correspondence describing the investment should be preserved. A securities attorney can review them to determine whether the referral fees were disclosed anywhere in writing.
Haselkorn & Thibaut fights for investor recovery
Haselkorn & Thibaut is a securities law firm founded by former Wall Street defense attorneys who shifted their practice to represent investors. The firm has recovered over $520 million for clients in securities matters and maintains a 98 percent success rate in resolved nontraded REIT cases. Attorneys are AV Preeminent rated through Martindale-Hubbell, designated as Super Lawyers, and hold a 5.0-star client review average. The firm operates on a contingency basis — no recovery, no fee.
Contact Haselkorn & Thibaut today
Time matters in investment recovery cases. The earlier you act, the stronger your position. The firm offers a free case evaluation to assess your losses, review your account history, and explain your options under arbitration or settlement.
- Main Phone: 1-888-885-7162
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Offices in Florida, New York, Arizona, Texas, and North Carolina. Former Wall Street defense attorneys with 95+ years of combined experience. No recovery, no fee.
